


Advanced Marriage Guidance

by Morganatique9



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coma, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 06 Finale, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morganatique9/pseuds/Morganatique9
Summary: When Annie finally wakes up from a coma she went into after an accident three months ago, the former Greendale study group reunites in New-York to look after her. But there is one problem: Annie may have partially lost her memory and may also believe that she is married to Jeff Winger.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Comments: 155
Kudos: 191





	1. She woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> So, it may sound weird but I actually got that fanfic idea from a dream I had last night haha... I'm not sure where this is heading to yet but I'm planning on writing a multi-chapter fanfic. It will mainly focus on Jeff and Annie, but I'll also include some study group-friendship moments. The point of view will mainly be Jeff's (maybe sometimes Annie's, not quite sure yet)
> 
> Also, I feel like I need to point this out, English isn't my native language so I'm sorry if there are some grammatical mistakes or weird sentences mixed up in here... Do not hesitate to let me know! I'll try my best though :)
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy your reading!

**She woke up.**

When Jeff wakes up that morning, the first thing he does is checking his phone, like every other morning. He grabs it clumsily on the nightstand next to his bed and tries to open his eyes to see clearly.

Zero messages.

He grumbles loudly and throws the phone away on his bed. Does he really have to go through another day without knowing if _she_ ’s okay?

Eventually, he gets out of bed and jumps into the shower before getting ready to go to work. Luckily, it is Friday and tonight, he’ll be able to enjoy a delightful Scotch whisky at The L Street / Red Door bar him and Britta both like but never remember the actual name of.

When he arrives on campus, he drags his feet to his office and pours himself a cup of coffee that he knows he’ll be savouring ten minutes from now, when his students will take their Fundamental Law test or whatever he is teaching this semester.

Jeff only takes his sunglasses off once he sits at his desk, but he quickly notices something unusual. He frowns while he grabs the gold medal in front of him. He reads “Jeffrey Winger’s 5 years of teaching at Greendale” on it and can’t help but chuckle. Craig Pelton sure likes to make a big deal out of rather boring occasions.

Jeff can’t believe it’s actually been five years that he started teaching at Greendale’s community college. Most of all, he can’t believe that he’s _still_ teaching at Greendale today. Time goes by in a blink of an eye and before he could realize it, he was a forty-three years old single man living in a condo next to his boss and teaching at a community college. How exciting.

The day goes by without much trouble and as soon as he’s done with his classes, Jeff rushes towards his car and meets Britta at their favourite bar for their usual tapas-and-drinks’ Friday evening. He walks into the bar and immediately sees her through the crowd. As usual, she is sitting at a table in a corner, next to the billiard and not too far from the bar. He sits in front of her and smiles softly.

“Hey blondie.” Jeff simply says.

“Hey Winger.” Britta smiles.

“So how was your week?” Jeff asks.

“The usual.” Britta shrugs. “This annoying guy I share my practice with felt yet again the need to criticize my work ethics, a patient screamed at me for being, quote, ‘the worst’ and I had to take Mister Doodle to the vet because he got stung by a bee. Thrilling, isn’t it?”

“Which one of your cats is Mister Doodle again?”

“The limping one I rescued from a trashcan.”

“Oh right. You know, you should really tell your co-worker to piss off.”

“He’s not technically my co-worker, and the worst thing is he’s not even a therapist! He’s a freaking gynaecologist and yet, he thinks it’s perfectly normal to mansplain my job to me. Can you believe the nerve of this guy... But I still have to put up with him for a few more months before I can afford to have my own practice. Besides, I can’t really say anything to him, he’s always paying his part of the rent.”

“That doesn’t mean he has the right to be disrespectful.”

“True that.” Britta whispers. “What about you? How was your week?”

“Honestly, it was so boring it’s not even worth talking about.”

“Have you heard from the others?”

“Troy called me a couple of days ago. He wants to make a quick round-trip to New-York to visit her next week-end. Apparently, Shirley called the hospital and the nurse told her she hasn’t had any visitors in two weeks.”

“Not even her parents or her brother??”

“No one.”

“That’s so sad… I feel so bad knowing she’s all alone in that cold hospital room.”

“Me too… That’s why I’m probably going to go to New-York with Troy, if you want to tag along.”

“Sure, I have to check my bank account first but I should have enough money to pay for the round trip.”

“Great, I’ll tell Troy tomorrow.”

Britta nods and Jeff can tell her smile is actually strained. They’ve all been pretty shaken up when Anthony Edison has called them three months ago to let them know his sister, Annie, had a work accident, putting her into a coma. Jeff and Britta have flown to New-York, where Annie lives, as soon as possible, followed by Troy, Abed, Shirley and Frankie. Seeing Annie lying on a hospital bed, unconscious, not knowing when – if… – she’ll ever wake up is probably the worst thing Jeff has had to experience in his entire life.

The group has met Annie’s parents for the first time on that occasion and when they’ve realized how little they seemed to care about their own daughter, they have decided they need to be the ones taking care of Annie while she goes through this.

Since Troy became rich after inheriting Pierce’s money, he’s been the one making the round-trip from Los Angeles to New-York at least three times a month to check up on Annie’s apartment in the Bronx and Annie herself. Sometimes, Shirley would come along with him, sometimes it was Abed. Jeff and Britta have only managed to go there twice, as it turns out, it is too painful for them to see their friend like this. But this time, Jeff feels like they both need to go back to Annie. He feels like by avoiding this, they have abandoned her and he can’t bear the fact of letting her down, even if she’s not actually aware of what is going on around her.

Jeff has drunk three glasses of Scotch already and Britta two beers when his phone buzzes on the table. It is so loud and unexpected that both Britta and Jeff flinch at the sound of it. They softly chuckle before Jeff picks up.

“Jeff Winger speaking.” He jokes.

“Good evening Jeffrey, it’s Shirley.” A soft voice says at the other end of the phone.

“Oh hey Shirley, what’s up?”

“Hi Shirleeeeey!” Britta screams into Jeff’s phone.

“Oh good, you’re with Britta.” Shirley comments.

“I’m putting you on speaker.” Jeff warns before doing so.

“It’s a good thing you’re both here, that’ll be one less phone call to make for me.” Shirley’s voice says through the speaker.

“What do you mean?” Britta asks, curious.

“I have something important to tell you, are you both sitting?”

Jeff and Britta exchange a confused look at Shirley’s question and nod before realizing she can’t see them.

“Yes, we are.” Jeff answers out loud.

“Good. So, as you may remember, the nurse who’s taking care of Annie at the hospital has put me onto the emergency contacts list…”

“Oh no.” Britta interrupts, her hand covering her mouth.

“Shirley, is Annie okay?” Jeff immediately queries.

“No no no, she’s fine, don’t worry!” Shirley exclaims in a high-pitched voice. “That’s just the thing. Her nurse called me tonight and… Apparently, there’s been a… An improvement.”

“What do you mean, ‘an improvement’? Either she’s awake or she’s not, other than that, what can possibly be ‘an improvement’ in a coma scenario?” Jeff points out.

“Well… Long story short, Annie woke up.”

Britta gasps, tears in her eyes. Jeff stays speechless at this announcement. He’s so stunned that he doesn’t even know how to react. Nevertheless, he can feel his phone shaking into his unsteady hand.

“That’s why I wanted to make sure you were sitting down.” Shirley eventually says in a raspy voice.

“Oh my God, it’s… It’s incredible!” Britta whispers. “We have to go to New-York immediately!”

“Well, the nurse told me we can’t go until her family has, and apparently, they planned on going tomorrow morning so we’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Why?”

“Annie just woke up from a three months coma sweetie, she may be startled by this much people coming to see her.”

“Right, right…” Britta sighs, disappointed.

“Anyway, I’ve called Jeff first but I also need to call Troy and Abed now. I had Annie’s brother on the phone and he said it was okay if we wanted to visit her tomorrow afternoon, after they have. Let’s talk about it on our group chat and we’ll book our flights later on tonight.”

“Perfect. Thanks a lot for the heads-up, Shirley.”

“Of course. Can you believe it? It’s a miracle!! I prayed every single day for our little Annie and He heard it.” Shirley squeals. “Sorry to cut this short but I have to call the boys now. We’ll talk later, take care and see you tomorrow!”

Shirley has hung up before Jeff or Britta had any chance to say something else. Jeff stared at his phone in disbelief afterwards.

“Why has Shirley called me first?” He wonders out loud.

“You probably were the first one of us on her previous calls’ list, don’t sweat it.” Britta casually answers.

“I can’t believe Annie’s finally woken up. Shirley’s right, it truly is a miracle.” Jeff sighs.

“Usually, I wouldn’t give credit to that but I’m so relieved Annie’s back that for this one time, I will.” Britta admits.

“I’m going to check tomorrow’s flights.” Jeff states while opening the Internet page on his phone.

Later on that night, Jeff, Britta, Troy, Shirley and Abed all agree on meeting at the hospital the next day around 4 P.M. Jeff and Britta book a flight departing in the late morning right away and rush home to pack a suitcase.

The next day, they drive to the airport and get onto their flight right on time. Jeff isn’t a fan of travelling, least of all when he's in an airplane, but for Annie, he would do pretty much anything.

When they get to the hospital around 3.45 P.M, Shirley, Troy and Abed are already here, sitting in the waiting-room. When they notice Jeff and Britta have arrived, they get up of their seats and greet them with hugs.

“The doctor said we can go there in a few minutes, but not all of us at the same time.” Shirley explains to Jeff and Britta. “Annie's obviously confused and it could upset her to see so many of us at once.”

“Of course.” Britta approves, a hand to her heart.

“We can go in pairs. Who wants to go f– “

“Visitors for Annie Edison?” A voice calls out in the room.

They all turn around at once and walk up to the nurse who called for them. She has a light smile and a comforting look on her face.

“Hi, everyone. I’m Melinda, I believe Shirley is here?”

Shirley raises her hand, like she used to when she was studying at Greendale.

“Nice to meet you, we’ve been talking on the phone these past weeks regarding Miss Edison’s state of health.” Melinda recalls.

“Of course, thank you so much for reaching out to me yesterday.” Shirley softly says. “I hope it’s okay we all came, we are close friends of Annie’s and we all wanted to check up on her.”

“I understand.” Melinda smiles. “I believe Doctor Williams has already informed you that you can’t go all at once to avoid startling her?”

“We are aware of that.” Shirley assures, smiling.

“Alright, well…” Melinda begins while looking through her notes. “Before you see her, I have to warn you, she’s still a little bit shocked and she doesn’t fully realize where she is and why. We’ve run some tests and Miss Edison has unfortunately suffered from a short-term memory loss in the aftermath of her accident. She remembers everything for the most part but it seems like the past year is still a blur to her. It’s not necessarily permanent, she may recover her full memory with some time and some triggering events. This is why it’s a good thing you all came to see her if you’re her closest friends, that will help her work through that. Now, you must acknowledge the fact that she may not be as you remember her to because of that. I know it will probably be difficult for you to see her like that but if you can, try being as positive and comforting as you can. Right now, all she needs is empathy and support.”

The whole group nods at Melinda’s speech. Jeff can feel his throat tighten, as he’s trying to mentally prepare himself for what’s coming next.

“It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, of course, it can be a traumatic event for the victim’s loved ones.”

Jeff frowns at this sentence but as he turns his head, he realizes Shirley and Britta are both silently crying. Melinda hands them some tissues and gently rub their arms after that.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go in first.” Britta points out, chuckling while wiping a tear away.

“Probably not.” Shirley nods.

“So… If it’s only the last year missing from her memory, she remembers who we are, right?” Troy suddenly asks Melinda.

“I believe so, hmm hmm.” Melinda nods, checking her notes again. “She has mentioned some of her friends named Jeff, Troy, Abed, Shirley, Britta, Frankie, Chang… Is that correct?”

The group nods, slightly relieved.

“Alright.” Melinda says to herself. “Oh, wait, I just noticed there’s a particular request from the patient in Doctor William’s notes.”

“What is it?” Jeff immediately asks, concerned.

“Since she woke up, Miss Edison has asked several times to see a certain… Jeff Winger.”

Jeff feels his friends looking at him right away and he can’t help but stare silently at Melinda at this statement.

“I’m Jeff.” He eventually answers, stepping forward.

“Oh…” Melinda lets out, still reading her notes. “Mister Winger, it appears that Miss Edison stated she’s your wife. Is that correct?”


	2. Look after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2! I think I'm going for the slowburn here, might have to add some additional tags regarding that haha
> 
> Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter, I hope you'll enjoy this one as well! :)

**_ Chapter 2 : Look after her. _ **

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand, I… Annie thinks we’re married??”

Jeff is perfectly conscious that the nurse is only doing her job and probably has already gone through awkward situations like this one, but nonetheless, her forced sympathetic smile at the moment feels more irritating than reassuring to him.

“I assumed it was probably her brain playing a trick but I needed to check it with you regardless.” Melinda explains.

“I don’t mean to be rude but… How can her brain mess up on something like this? It can’t actually be possible.”

“Unfortunately, it does happen from time to time. When a patient suffers from a memory-loss, the brain tends to hold onto anything familiar it can remember, so that the owner doesn’t feel completely lost. And sometimes, indeed, it can lead to the creation of altered memories. I’m guessing Miss Edison has a particular history with you that could have let her brain to believe you two could actually be engaged in a marital relationship.”

Jeff can hear everything Melinda is saying to him, but he is so confused he feels like he doesn’t understand a word of it. The whole situation seems too unreal for him to wrap his head around it.

“Okay, so… What should I do about it? Tell her the truth?” Jeff asks, frowning.

“That’s your call, Mister Winger. It is your decision and only yours to make, but if I may give you a professional advice, maybe don’t bring it up just yet. Miss Edison’s been awake for less than twenty-four hours and she might be very sensitive because of that. Her mind has already built up an entire world for her to feel comfortable in, and if this world is dismantled, it could be a real shock to her and lead to much severe effects.”

“Then… It isn’t really my decision to make, is it?”

“I’m just saying it would be better to protect her feelings at the time being. But again, that’s just my professional advice, no one would blame you if you were uncomfortable lying to your friend, Sir.”

Jeff purses his lips at Melinda’s ambiguous response. She’s basically telling him that it could damage Annie’s brain even more to tell her the truth, but at the same time, he doesn’t have to lie if it makes him uncomfortable? What kind of advice is that?

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it, if you have any question, I’ll be right here.” Melinda smiles.

She waits for her interlocutors to nod before turning around and walking to another group of people sitting in the waiting room. Jeff knows his friends are trying to make eye-contact with him right now but he feels so dazzled after the nurse’s explanation that the only thing he feels comfortable making eye-contact with is the weird character looking like a sugar cube on the coffee machine across the hall.

“Jeff? Are you okay?” Jeff hears indistinctly, as if the voice came from afar.

“I’m not sure…” He mumbles as an answer.

“I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything but… Maybe you _should_ actually play along.”

Jeff finally looks away from the coffee machine to stare bewilderedly at Britta.

“You heard what the nurse said.” Britta pursues. “It could really break Annie if she found out what she believes in isn’t real.”

“Britta, how can I actually pretend Annie is my wife?? I don’t even wear a wedding ring!”

“We can do something about that.”

Jeff watches Shirley after she said that, as she takes off a silver ring on her middle finger and hands it over to him.

“Guys, I… I can’t do this!” Jeff rebels, abashed. “It’s too much pressure and I don’t want to lie to Annie! This isn’t right!”

“But Jeff, you lying to her about this right now, for just a short amount of time, might actually be the best thing you could do for her!” Britta points out. “It’s not wrong, it’s to protect her.”

“I actually agree with Britta, Jeff.” Troy intervenes. “We’re already so lucky that she woke up, we can’t risk something even worse happening to her after that.”

Jeff sighs when he realizes his friends have made up their minds and he’ll have to get on board with it. He is about to say something else when he notices someone in the group still hasn’t said a word and it actually surprises him.

“Abed, you didn’t say where you stand on that.” Jeff says to his friend.

“Oh, I didn’t think my opinion was relevant here.” Abed admits plainly. “But if you want to know what I think, usually, in a TV scenario, when a character gets into a coma and wakes up with amnesia, his relatives usually play along, especially if it’s convenient for them.”

“In what scenario is that ever convenient?” Shirley wonders out loud, suspicious.

“Well, the most used trope is when the character was injured by another one and the one who did the injuring doesn’t want the other one to remember he was injured by this one, so it’s convenient for him that the character has amnesia.”

“Okay… Well… That certainly isn’t the case here but thanks for sharing your thoughts, Abed.” Jeff says.

“Jeff, don’t think about convenience here.” Britta steps up. “Annie’s your friend, right now she needs you, she needs all of us, actually. And we have to help her out, however we can.”

Britta walks up to him before adding anything else and grabs him by the arms, gently squeezing them in a way that is meant to give him confidence and reassure him.

“I know how difficult it must be for you.” She whispers softly. “But I promise she won’t be mad at you. No one is going to be mad at you. Right now, this is the right thing to do. And then… We’ll improvise. But either way, you won’t have to do this alone, we’re all here and we’ll all look after her.”

Britta smiles at him and Jeff can see in her eyes she means every word she just said to him. He looks up again at Shirley, Troy and Abed, who all give him an encouraging look. When Britta parts from him, he realizes his throat is tightened so hard he can barely swallow.

“You should be the one to go in there first. And you should go alone, if that’s what Annie wants.” Britta eventually says.

“You’re right.” Jeff sighs, rubbing the back of his head. “I’ll… do my best.”

“I don’t doubt it, your Winger speeches are still on point.”

Jeff chuckles a little at Britta’s joke and eventually rubs his hands together before exhaling sharply.

“Okay… I’ll see you guys later.”

His friends wave at him and he can feel that they’re trying to be as supportive as possible. Jeff Winger is the guy that never wanted to settle and yet, he is also the one that will have to play the husband part here. The sweet irony…

Jeff goes to Melinda in order to ask for Annie’s room number and after she has given him the directions, he starts walking towards his destination. His hands are sweaty, his heart is pounding in his chest, his breathing is heavy, yet, he’s trying to focus only and solely on what to say and what to do once he’s in that room with Annie.

He gets there faster than he hoped for and before opening the door, he freezes, his hand right above the doorknob. He’s definitely not ready to face _her_ right now. However, Britta’s words play on repeat in his head and he can even feel the tiny pressure of the silver ring Shirley gave him on his left hand. Therefore, he puts on a brave face and gets ready to see his… wife.

*******

In the waiting room, Britta and Shirley have sat down next to each other while Troy and Abed have left on a vending-machine-that-sells-Dorito-chips hunt. Shirley has closed her eyes to say a silent prayer for Annie, but the sound of Britta’s constant texting on her phone eventually distracts her.

“Excuse-me, honey?” Shirley coos with a fake smile.

“Hmm?” Britta responds, not even looking up from her phone.

“Would you mind putting that thing on silent mode, please? The constant ticking of your typing is… a bit annoying.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I… I was just checking if everything was okay at the practice.”

“Aren’t you close on the weekends?”

“Well… I should be but stupid Steve has decided to take care of his ob-gyn patients on Saturday mornings now, so it feels like I have to do the same, and apparently, some people came asking for me this morning.”

“Didn’t you tell him you had to leave for a few days because of personal reasons?”

“Of course I did but the guy’s an idiot. Anyway… That’s not important right now.”

They both pout and aren’t exactly sure what to say next. Britta decides to do the talking eventually.

“Do you think our little Jeff will be able to play the husband card?” She asks Shirley.

“I sure hope he will, Annie’s health depends on it.” Shirley responds in a low-pitched voice.

“That is kind of a lot of pressure. You remember how Jeff used to handle that kind of pressure, right?”

“Well, he’s a grown man, I’m sure he’ll manage.”

“It’s funny how Annie’s mind assumed that she was married to Jeff and not someone else. Like, it could’ve been Troy, or Abed, or even one of us.”

“To be frank, that doesn’t surprise me much. The googly eyes never fooled anyone.”

Britta simply nods to approve and when she understands that Shirley isn’t up to making small talks at the moment, she grabs her phone back and starts typing again. Except she’s not texting with douche-Steve as she told Shirley, but really, she’s texting with her girlfriend.

***

Jeff tries to enter the room as silently as possible, in case Annie’s sleeping. He softly closes the door behind him and gets quickly acquainted with his environment. The room is rather small, with its turquoise-colored walls and its TV hanging on the wall, currently broadcasting the newest episode of ‘ _Dancing with the Stars’_.

Annie is sat straight on her bed, watching TV with her eyes half-closed. After three months of seeing her lying down unconscious, it feels very weird to see her awaken again. Jeff tries his hardest to cope with the situation right away and he eventually clears his throat to notify his presence. He forces himself to keep on a straight face as Annie slowly turns her heard towards him. At first, she doesn’t say anything, as if she is processing what is going on in front of her. She looks at him but it’s like she’s actually looking through him. Like she’s analyzing the situation. Jeff is starting to feel uncomfortable when she eventually widens her eyes a little bit and puts on a weak smile.

“Jeff, is that really you?”

Annie’s voice is hoarse, a proof that she hasn’t spoken in a very long time. Jeff observes that it doesn’t seem easy for Annie to speak out loud and to concentrate. The nurse was right, it was very disturbing to see someone you know in a very different version of themselves.

“It’s me.” He eventually answers, lightly smiling.

He feels like he has to walk up to her but he doesn’t want to do anything that would possibly startle her. Instead, he stands still and waits for her to give him the go-ahead.

“I’m so happy you’re here.” Annie whispers smoothly.

Jeff figures out the main reason why Annie is acting like that: the doctors must have given her some medicine to soothe her and keep her steady and quiet. She’s talking like she’s high.

“What are you doing, dumb-dumb? Come here.”

Annie gently pats the side of her bed to give him permission to come closer to her. Reluctant at first, he reminds himself yet again of what Britta and the others told him before he went up there and eventually puts one foot after the other before sitting at the end of the bed.

“I’m so happy you’re here.” Annie repeats herself, apparently forgetting she already said it.

“Me too.” Jeff forces himself to say. “You know, the others are here too, in the waiting room. Britta, Shirley, Troy and Abed. If you feel okay with this, they will come and say hello later on.”

“Wow, okay… That would be nice.”

Jeff doesn’t even know what to say. He’s actually waiting for Annie to throw the bomb first, so that he doesn’t have to be the one doing it and just has to play along.

“I’m sorry if I’m… all groggy right now… The nurse gave me… pills earlier.” Annie manages to say.

“It’s okay, kiddo.”

“Kiddo? You haven’t called me that since we got married…”

And there it was. _The straight face, Jeff, keep on with the straight face_.

“It’s okay, I don’t blame you.” Annie adds before Jeff can retort. “Old habits, I guess.”

“Yeah… That.”

“I don’t know what the doctor told you but… Apparently, I have a whole year missing from my memories. Well… I can remember some bits from time to time, but it’s still a little blurry.”

“And how are you feeling right now?” Jeff eventually asks, concerned for Annie.

“Honestly? Like I’ve taken a looong nap.” Annie giggles slightly. “It still feels weird, though. Me here, I mean. I can’t wait to go home with you. I miss Ollie.”

“Huh?”

“I said I miss our little baby dog.”

 _Shit, now she thinks we have a dog too??_ Jeff doesn’t even know how he can keep up with the lie for more than a few minutes.

“Babe, don’t take it personally but I feel a little sleepy…” Annie then whispers, her eyes closing again.

“Oh, right. Hmm… Well… Get some rest and… I’ll come check up on you later.” Jeff stammers.

“Okay… Say ‘hi’ to the others for me.”

“Will do.” Jeff softly says before getting up.

“Wait… Aren’t you going to give me a kiss?”

Jeff winces at Annie’s request, but fortunately, she’s too sleepy to even notice. He slowly walks to her and hesitates for quite an amount of time. In the end, he decides it’s best to kiss her on the forehead and gently stroke her hair. He knows she likes these displays of affection.

Annie then mumbles something unintelligible, which Jeff takes as a cue to leave. He almost escapes the room and once he’s out, he exhales sharply and lets himself drop to the ground. This whole situation is impossible to deal with. He spent only two minutes with Annie and he already feels like he’s betraying her trust. How can everyone expect him to keep up with this insane plan?


	3. The new normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for your reviews on the previous chapter, I'm happy you guys are enjoying this! Here's the third chapter!

**_ Chapter 3: The new normal. _ **

Jeff’s mind is spiraling and trying to make sense of what situation he has gotten himself into. As he walks back towards his friends after seeing Annie in that hospital room, he barely even notices the great hand gestures they wave at him or the questions they harass him with.

“It looks like we broke him.” He hears Troy say.

Britta starts to snap her fingers right in front of his eyes and he quickly stops her by grabbing her wrist.

“Ha, look who came back to Earth!” She exclaims.

“So how was it? How is she?” Shirley asks.

Jeff pauses before answering Shirley’s question, mostly because he isn’t even sure what answer he could possibly give that would be close enough to the truth.

“She’s… Well, she’s… We…” Jeff stammers, uncertain.

“What did she say to you?” Britta asks impatiently.

“Did you have a big dramatic reunion moment like characters from a telenovela have after a coma?” Abed inquires.

“Guys, please!” Jeff interjects. “Let me gather my thoughts for just a second.”

Jeff’s head starts hammering, as if there are some tiny gnomes inside it knocking with their tiny hammers. He rubs his temples and sighs heavily, feeling his friends’ eagerness all over the place.

“Annie really does believe we’re married.” Jeff finally explains. “Right now, she’s a little fucked up, if you want me to be honest, because doctors and nurses fucking sedated her to make her quiet and sleepy. As if she hasn’t slept enough in three months…”

“Jeff, it’s okay, take it easy.” Britta interrupts him while taking his hand to soothe him.

“Sorry.” He sighs. “Anyway, the point is, I really don’t know what to do, guys. I feel like a con man, I can’t seriously play along with this. When she’ll remember her actual memories, she’s going to be so confused as to why I led her on into this ludicrous marriage fantasy.”

“What if she never remembers her actual memories?”

Troy’s inner thought spoken out loud makes everyone silent and reflective. They haven’t considered this prospect. Jeff hasn’t considered it at all. To him, this charade is just going to be a matter of days. He hasn’t signed up for more than that.

“She will. I’m sure she will. Right, Jeff?” Shirley says bluntly.

“I know you want me to give a Winger speech right now but I’m not sure I can this time…” Jeff admits, defeated.

“Look, just…” Britta starts, trying to be as positive as possible. “I suggest we all take a deep breath and consider that all options are a possibility. And whatever the turnout is, we’ll be prepared and we’ll find the best solution to it. Together.”

“That’s not nearly as good as Jeff’s speeches but we’ll take it.” Abed shrugs.

“You know what we can do? We can find out what are the things she actually remembers correctly by casually talking to her.”

“Britta, trust me, she’s clearly not in the mood for small talks right now.” Jeff points out.

“Not, like, right now. But over time. Guys, I don’t know what you had in mind by coming here but Annie’s too fragile to go back into this mad world alone. We have to stay with her and take care of her.”

“It’s not like we can stay here forever, Britta.” Shirley retorts. “We all have professional and personal obligations at home.”

“Yeah, well, I think my friend’s health is way more important than any of that right now. You do you but I’m going to stay here as long as Annie needs me to.”

“And where do you plan on staying? Annie only has a one-bedroom apartment.” Jeff reminds her.

“I’m an anarchist, I have slept in random and odd places many times in my life. I think I can handle staying on a couch for a few days, Jeff.”

“Okay, let’s do it.” Troy exclaims, taking Britta’s hand in his. “I’m worried about Annie, I want to take care of her too. You know what? I can book an Airbnb close to her compound, so that we can keep an eye on her.”

“Troy, it’s a really sweet idea but I’m not sure I can afford an Airbnb for an indefinite time right n–“

“Don’t worry, it's on me.”

Abed gasps and Britta gazes at Troy with admiration. Jeff and Shirley exchange concerned looks, not knowing if any of that is a good idea.

“I’m on board.” Abed eventually says, doing his typical handshake with Troy. “I feel like it can be an interesting journey for all of us.”

“Jeff? Shirley? What do you think?”

At first, they both stay silent as Britta, Troy and Abed expectantly wait for them to say something.

“I guess I can manage to stay for a week.” Shirley eventually says. “I left my boys at Andre’s, he’ll understand the emergency of the situation. As for my work, I suppose –“

“Great!” Britta interrupts, which makes Shirley scowl. “Jeff, of all of us, you’re the one Annie needs the most and you know it, you can’t back down on this.”

“Yeah, I pretty much assumed that already. I guess the Dean won’t mind if I take a time-off earlier this year.”

Britta squeals and hugs out Jeff, who can’t help but smile despite everything that has just happened.

“You guys are good people.” Britta proudly whispers. “Troy, let’s look up Airbnbs around Annie’s neighborhood!”

Troy and Britta walk away from the group to search through the app and choose the perfect location for their stay.

“Abed, sweetie, why don’t we go and see if our Annie is awake?” Shirley suggests in a sweet tone.

“Sure.” Abed simply responds.

Once they’re all out of his sight, Jeff lets out a gasp and sits down on the nearest chair. It is a lot pressure for him to handle, but as he has already figured out earlier, it appears that he doesn’t have much of a choice, in the end. He doesn’t know how these little shenanigans will end but he can easily imagine that it won’t be good.

***

By the following Monday, it has all been settled. Britta and Troy have found a suitable apartment only one block away from Annie’s building, with five bedrooms, each one having its own bathroom. The group has asked Troy how much he has had to pay for that kind of rent but he hasn’t said anything, which has concerned them, since Troy has asserted the rent is ‘almost affordable’ and they have no clue what that means to him.

Annie would have to stay at the hospital for a few more days before her doctor could eventually approve her release. In the meantime, her friends start putting everything together for her big homecoming, more specifically by making her apartment as cozy as humanly possible, buying her groceries and listening to the nurse’s advice on what homecare equipment she would benefit from.

On Wednesday, while Troy, Abed and Shirley visit Annie at the hospital, Britta and Jeff stay at her apartment to adjust a few more things before she comes home the next day. While Jeff finishes off vacuuming the place, Britta runs out for a “quick shopping spree”, from which she returns with unsettling items.

“Britta, what is that?” Jeff rails when he notices a new picture frame on a bookshelf.

“Well, I thought Annie might find it weird that there aren’t any couple memories in _your_ apartment, so I printed this old photo of you two I found on my cloud and I framed it.”

“Do we really have to push it this far? It’s very creepy.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Jeff, but right now, it looks like you’re Annie’s lifeline and she needs to hold onto that before her life can get back to normal.”

Jeff sighs and grabs the picture frame to look at it closely. He’s not even sure he’s seen this picture before but he certainly remembers in what context it has been taken: a year ago, when Troy had come back from his sailing trip around the world. After purchasing an apartment in Los Angeles, he had invited the whole study group to the housewarming. They had ended up pretty inebriated, playing with water guns and ending up all wet. Annie had only packed outfits for a weekend, therefore, Jeff – who always packs more than he needs to, just in case – had given her some shirt and pants of his, that were way too big for her, and they had laughed so much at how Annie looked like Jeff’s evil twin that Britta had seized the moment and captured it forever on a photograph.

This is the picture Jeff is looking at right now, a picture of Annie and himself, both dressed up in Jeff’s clothes, laughing and looking into each other’s eyes with such admiration and affection that anyone who would see the picture, not knowing their history, could totally assume they are dating for real.

“You know what?” Jeff eventually says, putting the frame back where he grabbed it. “I don’t think Annie will ever get back to her previous normal. Everything that will happen next, this is her new normal. Our new normal.”

Britta purses her lips in sympathy, silently agreeing with Jeff. He isn’t trying to be a pessimist buzzkill here, he’s only trying to stay as realistic as possible. Britta likes to be supportive and give people hope; on the other hand, Jeff’s lawyer past has taught him that at the end of the day, being down-to-earth is an essential survival tool.

By sunset, everything is finally ready for Annie’s homecoming. They have aligned her favorite fluffy pillows on the couch, have bought some cinnamon and vanilla scented candles to light up once she’s home, have purchased her favorite snacks at the local supermarket, put on some newly bought sheets on her bed and downloaded a few comforting movies and TV shows on Netflix that she might enjoy. Everything has been thought through, especially by Jeff, in order to make her as comfortable as she needs.

“You know, Jeff, all those little things you got for Annie because you thought she might like it, it’s actually quite romantic.” Britta taunts him as they walk out of Annie’s apartment to go back to their Airbnb.

“Oh please, it was easy, I’ve never met any woman who doesn’t like scented candles.” Jeff argues, unexpectedly troubled by Britta’s innuendo.

“First of all, that’s sexist. And second of all, don’t act all stuck-up, need I remind you she’s your wife?”

“Only until she gets her actual memories back.”

“Right. But you realize you’ll probably have to act like you actually care until that, don’t you?”

“Of course I care, Britta. I’ve always cared about her.”

“Oh I know.”

Jeff frowns at Britta’s assertive tone and he throws a gaze full of questions at her afterwards.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jeff asks when he realizes Britta’s not about to say anything else on the matter.

“Only what you want it to, my friend.” Britta vaguely responds.

“Oh no, you’re doing your shrink-voodoo-vibes on me right now, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps, Jeffrey.” Britta says in a fake British accent.

“Okay, now it’s getting weird.” Jeff picks her on.

“Did you actually not notice that none of us has been that much surprised about Annie’s marriage fantasy about you?”

“How can you not be surprised? I feel like I’m starring in a badly-written episode of ‘ _Grey’s Anatomy’_.”

“It’s not that we weren’t surprised by Annie’s derailed memories, of course we were. But when you come to think of it, it wasn’t really surprising that she made these memories about you specifically.”

“Why?”

Britta stops walking to look at Jeff, obviously annoyed by his cluelessness.

“You’re really not seeing where I am going with this?” She asks him.

Jeff shakes his head from left to right, which makes Britta growl and tilt her head backwards.

“Men are so dumb.” Britta sighs.

“Now, who's sexist?” Jeff teases her.

“Don’t get me started on that. Anyway, what I meant to say is, you and Annie do have a kind of history together. It was very much obvious that she was into you at some point, and even though you tried to deny it, so were you.”

“Maybe but what you’re referring to happened in the past. Things are different now.”

“I’m not saying they aren’t but from a psychological point of view, it kind of makes sense. She has this history with you, and for what we know, maybe she already thought about getting married and weddings in general. And she liked you a lot a few years ago, so I guess it can explain this whole whacky situation.”

“But why me? Let’s assume you’re right and Annie’s liked me a lot. I’m pretty sure she’s had a boyfriend, maybe two, since she moved to New-York. Why didn’t her brain married her to one of them?”

“Just because she dated some random dudes for a couple of months doesn’t mean she was in love with them.”

“Huh? So now she’s in love with me??”

“Ugh Jeff, you’re twisting everything, just… You know what, just let it go, okay? I was only trying to figure out if you still had a thing for Annie but from the looks of it, you do not, so don’t sweat it.”

They are on their way upstairs to meet up with their friends when Britta scolds him and Jeff freezes in the middle of the stairs because he wasn’t expecting her to snap at him like that. She could get a little frustrated when she would try pulling teeth out of someone and they wouldn’t play along, but regardless, this feels a little extra to him, even coming from her. Besides, Jeff hasn’t once said that what he used to feel for Annie has completely disappeared. This is something he hasn’t really thought of since she has decided to move to New-York, so he doesn’t know what he actually feels. And he probably has to figure it out now that they’re married in her head…

Jeff enters the room and is welcomed by a delightful smell of spices and herbs. He can see from where he stands that Shirley is in the kitchen, cooking something for dinner, an apron tied around her waist. When she turns around to greet them, he is able to read the personalized imprint on it: “He is Risen”, above a cross made of bread.

“You still got that apron, Shirley?” Jeff points out once he’s next to her, looking for a beer in the fridge.

“Of course I do, it’s handmade, it never deteriorates!” Shirley responds proudly.

“In another timeline, your apron probably caught on fire and burned.” Abed intervenes while walking past Jeff and Shirley.

“Oh.” Shirley lets out, still surprised by Abed’s sticking remarks.

“Well, it smells delicious in here, can’t wait to eat.” Jeff says with a genuine smile.

“Thank you, Jeffrey.” Shirley sighs happily. “So, is everything ready for our little Annie back at her apartment?”

“Yup, we made the coziest place I’ve ever seen. I even got her cinnamon and vanilla candles.”

“Ooh it’s nice, she’ll love it!”

Jeff raises his eyebrows at Britta and silently mouths “I told you so”, to which she rolls her eyes.

“How was it at the hospital?” Jeff asks when Troy and Abed sit at the table next to him.

“I hate hospitals.” Troy bluntly says.

“I don’t think a lot of people are fond of hospitals Troy, don’t worry.” Jeff teases.

“I didn’t get to see Annie because I was talking to her doctor.” Shirley eventually answers after putting the meal in the oven. “The boys stayed with her to keep her company.”

“What did the doctor say?” Britta inquires.

“Nothing he hasn’t already said, really. She needs to stay in a homely environment, to get acquainted again with her surroundings. She will have to go back to the hospital a month from now so that they can run some tests and eventually enable her to go back to work. For now, her mental health is our priority, so we’ll have to pay attention to that. The boys think she’s starting to get back to her usual self, right?”

“Well, she still thinks Jeff’s her husband but other than that, she remembers most of the stuff that happened when we were at Greendale, she knows she works in forensics at the FBI, blah-blah-blah.” Troy says. “She still has a hard time remembering what happened last year, though.”

“Then, how can she still be convinced we are married? I don’t get it.” Jeff can’t help but ask.

“I asked her if she remembered your wedding day.” Abed explains. “She described it to me with a very disturbing accuracy. Lots of details and all.”

“The doctors still can’t say how’s that possible? Like, haven’t they run a billion tests when she woke up? They should have found out something by now.” Jeff says irritatingly.

“Maybe she dreamt it.”

Jeff looks inquisitively at Britta after she said that. From the looks of Shirley, Troy and Abed, it seems like she has aroused their curiosity as well.

“I… I just remembered something. When Annie had her accident, I started reading some books about coma patients and what’s going on inside their heads.” Britta starts explaining. “And in most cases, even though the patient is in a deep coma, it has been revealed that the brain stays active and performs hidden activity. I guess it’s possible that Annie’s did and it’s also possible that during these three months, she has dreamt about things and maybe it felt so vivid that when she woke up, she was convinced it was true. I don’t know, it’s just a theory, I’m not a neurologist.”

“I guess that makes sense, though.” Troy says while Abed nods. “That would explain why she thinks she’s married to Jeff, and why she remembers a wedding day that never actually happened.”

“But when you have a vivid dream, once you wake up, you quickly realize it was just a dream, right?” Jeff thinks out loud.

“I guess it’s different for a coma." Britta shrugs. "You know, three months is quite a long time. Maybe she’ll eventually realize it but, like, not right now.”

Jeff sighs and wipes his hand down his face. This is _really_ a lot to handle.

“You’re the one picking her up tomorrow, right?” Britta asks Jeff at some point.

“I guess it’s the right thing to do. A husband bringing his wife home…”

“Enjoy the cynicism while you can, because from tomorrow, you’ll have to constantly put on a brave face, Jeffrey.” Shirley reminds him while taking the food out of the oven.

***

On Thursday, Jeff arrives at the hospital around 11 A.M. and fills a discharge paper to confirm Annie’s leaving the premises with him. He takes the elevator to get to her floor and when he enters her room, she is fully dressed with some cleaned and ironed clothes from her wardrobe Shirley has brought to her the day before. At this moment, she does look like the Annie he used to hang out with just a few years ago. It’s unsettling at first, but he promptly remembers that the situation is different when she runs to him and falls into his arms.

“I see someone’s feeling a little better.” Jeff exclaims as convincingly as possible.

“Much better, even.” Annie squeals before parting from him. “I’m so excited to go home.”

“I bet. Everything’s set?”

“Yup, the doctors and the nurses say my recovery is going well so far, they have reduced my pills doses.”

“That’s good news, right?” Jeff asks as he grabs her personal items the hospital has kept.

“Apparently, yeah. Are the others still here?”

“Yeah, Troy rented that insane Airbnb just a block from your… _our_ place.” Jeff corrects himself before Annie can notice the slip-up.

“I feel really touched that they all stayed for me, it’s really sweet.”

They both keep on chit-chatting as they make their way out of the hospital and back to the Uber Jeff has called to take them to Annie’s building. They sit inside and as the car drives away, they keep on talking to each other. Jeff’s discomfort is almost fading away as he realizes that Annie does feel more like herself, which Troy and Abed have mentioned the day before. It reassures him until she takes his hand in hers and intertwines her fingers to his. Jeff doesn’t push her back but he feels a weird sensation in his stomach due to the sweet pressure of Annie’s hand in his. Her hand looks so tiny compared to his…

“I’m so sorry, these past months must have been hard for you.” She sadly whispers to him. “I promise I’ll make up for that.”

“Annie, you don’t have to make up for anything, you had an accident.” Jeff whispers back, getting oddly comfortable holding hands with her. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m the one who’s going to take care of you, I promise.”

“I know that.” She smiles.

They don’t say anything else and instantly lock eyes with each other and in that moment, against all odds, it almost feels natural. Jeff doesn’t mind Annie’s thumb gently stroking his hand into tiny circles: he even finds it soothing, in a way. Their eye contact breaks when he feels his phone buzzing on his lap. He immediately looks at the screen to see it’s a text from Britta.

“Is everything okay?” Annie asks when she notices Jeff’s frowning.

“Y… yeah, Britta’s just asking me if we were on our way back, I think they want to come and say hi.” Jeff answers while reading the text.

Annie nods and turns her head to look out the window, letting go of Jeff’s hand. He looks at the empty space she left next to his hand and almost regrets their intertwining. In reality, Britta’s text said “have u picked her up? are u on ur way back? how is it? are you uncomfortable or is that okay?”

Jeff replies with “your text sounds like a police investigation, but yeah, everything’s fine. we’re on our way.” to bicker a bit with Britta but the truth is he’s quite disconcerted. It feels like he actually _enjoyed_ holding hands with Annie. As if it is the most natural thing in the world. _This is definitely not going to go as planned_ , he then thinks to himself.


	4. Home, sweet home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes chapter 4! Thank you to everyone leaving kudos, commenting and reading this, I'm so happy you guys enjoy this!

**_ Chapter 4: Home, sweet home. _ **

As he is struggling to find the appropriate key to open the front door to Annie’s apartment, Jeff realizes he’s actually pretty nervous. Annie stands right behind him, waiting for him to unlock the door so that she can finally be home. The problem is, he doesn’t even know which key opens which door. He’s starting to wonder why Annie has so many keys on her keyrings in the first place.

“Do you want me to do it, babe?” Annie asks him in a soft voice.

“No it’s fine, I’m getting there.” Jeff grumbles, trying every key on the lock.

He finally hears the sweet release of the unlock sound and is able to push the door open. He steps aside so that Annie can be the first one to walk into the room and when she is, he grabs her bags, standing at his feet, and closes the door behind him. And now, here they are, both of them, alone in the apartment Annie believes is theirs.

“Home, sweet home.” She exhales, smiling.

“Do you need anything? Tea, hot chocolate, hot-water bottle?” Jeff asks, starting to walk all around the place.

Jeff has spent so much time in that apartment for the past couple of days that he actually got familiar with it and it does feel like he lives here.

“I just want to sit down on our couch and enjoy the moment, that’s all.” She answers while taking his hand to calm him down.

Jeff unexpectedly lets himself carried away to the couch by Annie, hand in hand. They sit down next to each other and Annie immediately grabs a pink fluffy pillow to hold it against her belly. She closes her eyes, inhales slowly and exhales just as slowly.

“I missed this.” Annie sighs. “I was starting to seriously hate my hospital room.”

“I got something I thought you might like, hold on.” Jeff suddenly says before standing up.

He walks towards the cupboard next to the entrance, followed by Annie’s inquisitive eyes. He grabs one of the candles he bought, along with a matchbook, and brings them both onto the coffee table in front of the couch. He lights the candle and sits back down next to Annie.

“Can you smell it?” Jeff asks to her.

“Hmm…” She first says, quietly sniffing. “I’m going to say… Cinnamon?”

“Exactly.” Jeff approves in a wide grin. “Do you like it?”

“Sure, it’s… relaxing.” Annie answers with a faint smile.

“Are you alright?” Jeff immediately asks, suddenly concerned.

Annie nods to assert she is but Jeff can tell something is definitely off. She looks like she is currently miles away from there, and she also looks kind of upset. Only two hours into the perfect husband role and apparently, Jeff has already screwed it up.

“Did I do something that upset you?” Jeff tries, worried.

“No, it’s not that, you’ve been nothing but really sweet…” Annie sighs. “I’m just… I’m just feeling sad, I guess.”

“Why’s that? I thought you were excited about coming home.”

“I was. I _am_. But… It’s going to sound stupid but I didn’t really realize up until now that I was _gone_ for three months, you know? Like, I’ve missed ninety days of my life because I was in a coma. It’s a lot to take in, and it just only hit me now. It’s like I’m a stranger to this place, like I no longer belong here. I don’t know, it’s stupid…”

Annie’s eyes start blurring and Jeff can easily guess she’s holding back tears at the moment. She must be ashamed of feeling sad and she doesn’t want to cry because she feels like she doesn’t have the right to, now that she’s back home, safe and sound. Jeff feels instantly saddened by Annie’s reaction, and also a little bit embarrassed, considering he isn’t sure how to deal with it. Is it better to let her cry without bothering her? Or should he… comfort her?

“Sorry, I shouldn’t say that, I’m lucky enough as it is, some people never wake up from a coma.” Annie adds after a few seconds, before grabbing a tissue and tapping it under her teary eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Jeff exclaims, getting closer to her to gently stroke her hair. “Don’t apologize for feeling sad, you have every right to be. What you’ve been through is traumatizing and unusual, it’s okay to feel lost.”

Annie sniffs and Jeff tenderly wipes a tear rolling down her cheek with his thumb. Then, he puts said thumb under her chin and slowly lifts her head up so that he can look her in the eyes.

“If you need to cry right now, don’t hold it back, okay? You are entitled to your feelings, young lady. Let it all out.”

Annie chuckles afterwards, which makes Jeff frown.

“Sorry, I’m not making fun of you, you just sound like you’re giving a Winger speech right now.” She explains.

“You’re right, actually. I guess old habits die hard. But to be honest, I don’t really know what else to say… I can’t tell you that I relate or that I understand, because I don’t. I didn’t go through what you did, so I can’t tell you how to feel. Only you can.”

“You’re right.” Annie sighs. “I don’t know what I was thinking but this is obviously going to take longer to deal with than I expected.”

Jeff quietly shivers at Annie’s comment. For how long would he have to pretend to be someone he’s not?

“By the way, I just realized something.” Annie suddenly says.

Jeff’s eyes widen and a million thoughts start rushing through his head. Is this it? Did she realize that this whole marriage thing is just a figment of her imagination?

“Where’s Ollie?” She eventually asks him.

Jeff experiences a moment of hesitation at that question before feeling like he’s been punched in the stomach. How could he have forgotten that Annie thought they have a dog??

“Oh… Hmm… Well, it’s…” Jeff stammers, trying to think fast.

“Hold on a minute.” She interrupts him, looking suspicious.

Jeff swallows hardly. That tiny omission has probably exposed him. Annie is currently figuring out that it was all a charade.

“Oh… We don’t actually have a dog, do we?” Annie finally whispers, smiling vaguely.

Jeff tries very hard not to show his relief at the moment. He doesn’t know what he would have said to cover up for this.

“I don’t know why I assumed that.” Annie pursues, looking reflective. “I guess we must have talked about getting a dog before my accident so I mixed everything up.”

Jeff is relieved, but also very puzzled. So, she can remember that they don’t actually have a dog but she can’t remember they’re not married? What is the logic of this crazy situation?

“Jeff, can we get a puppy?” Annie eventually asks him in a high-pitched voice, batting her eyes.

“Annie Edison, your lovely doe eyes won’t work on something like this, having a dog is a huge commitment.” Jeff tells Annie seriously, even though he can feel a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth because of her request.

“So is marriage, but we’re pretty much nailing it, right?”

The situation is getting real cringy real fast to Jeff but he pretends otherwise and just keeps smiling to his “wife”.

“We’ll get back to the puppy talk once you’ll feel more like yourself, okay?” Jeff compromises.

Annie starts sulking and it’s quite hard to figure out if she’s faking it or if she actually means it. Maybe a little bit of both, Jeff thinks as he’s getting up. He moves towards the kitchen and starts pouring a glass of fresh water to bring it to Annie. Meanwhile, he can feel his phone buzzing tirelessly in his pocket.

“There you go.” He says while handing her the glass.

“Thanks, Milord.” Annie solemnly says before giggling.

Jeff’s chest feels surprisingly warm after Annie has called him that. It reminds him of the Greendale time, when they were teasing each other once in a while, calling each other “milady” and “milord” and partnering up on cutesy capers, as the Dean Pelton once said. Right now, it all seems like a lifetime ago to Jeff…

His phone buzzes yet another time and this time, he annoyingly takes it out of his pocket, letting out a grunt.

“What is it?” Annie asks in between two sips of water.

“Britta’s harassing me to know if you’re okay and if they can come by and see how you’re doing.” Jeff sighs. “What do you want me to tell her?”

“Hmm… It’s fine I guess, I could use the company tonight. I mean, I already have you, obviously, but I wouldn’t mind seeing other people. Getting back to the real world, you know?”

“If you’re not comfortable because you feel like it’s too soon for you to socialize again, it’s fine Annie, you don’t have to do something you don’t want.”

“No, I’m okay. They stayed in the city just for me, I want to thank them for that. Tell her they should come and have dinner with us!”

Jeff tries to make sure Annie is fine with it by raising his eyebrows at her, thus, she nods to confirm. Therefore, he types an answer back to Britta while saying out loud:

“Fine but I’m telling them to bring the food, neither of us is cooking tonight.”

***

Around 7.30 P.M., the doorbell rings. Jeff gets up from the couch and gets ready to open the door to his friends. Annie has kept an old habit from the time she was living in a terrible neighborhood during their first years at Greendale, hence the fact that she has put several locks on her door that can only be opened from the inside. When they have been coming to clean the apartment up, Jeff and the others haven’t touched these locks but now that he’s in front of it, Jeff notices that they have all been locked. It seems like despite the three months coma and the brief memory mess-up, Annie still has the urge to protect herself as soon as she gets home.

Jeff proceeds in unlocking it all up and once the door is fully opened, he faces his friends’ unnaturally wide smiles.

“I didn’t know the circus was in town tonight.” Jeff scoffs before letting them in.

“You’re a jerk, we’re only trying to be nice!” Britta retorts, gently shoving him.

“Where’s Annie?” Troy asks as he lets himself fall into the couch.

“She’s taking a shower, she should be ready soon enough.” Jeff casually answers.

“So how is it going?” Britta whispers, eyeing towards the bathroom to make sure Annie can’t hear them.

“Not too bad, actually.” Jeff shrugs. “She took a nap this afternoon and then, we watched some episodes of this ‘ _New Girl’ show_. She also ate a lot of Hershey’s bars. Like, A LOT. But overall, it was fine, could’ve been worse, I guess.”

“I’m not sure she should eat that much sugar, Jeffrey…” Shirley points out. “The doctor said…”

“She was craving it, who am I to take that away from her?” Jeff interrupts her, which seems to offend her.

“Okay, she ate a lot of chocolate junk, great, but what I mostly wanted to know is how things between you two are??” Britta insists.

“Oh, right. Hmm… You know, I just keep on avoiding pet names and physical proximity, but apart from that, it’s like we’re two friends. Not that big of a deal, in the end.”

“Right…” Britta frowns, not entirely convinced.

“She didn’t even try to kiss you?” Troy exclaims, surprised.

“Not once.” Jeff assures.

“That’s odd.” Abed remarks. “Maybe she’s unconsciously aware of the truth.”

Jeff is about to answer but suddenly, he can hear Annie’s steps from afar, thereby, he quietly urges his friends to remain silent. Annie then steps out of the bathroom, her hair still a little wet, wearing a plain white shirt and comfy sweatpants. When she sees them, she quickly makes her way to the group to hug each and every one of them.

“You guys!” Annie squeals. “I can’t believe you all stayed here for me!”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t stay just for you, I planned on touring around famous filming locations in New-York.” Abed truthfully says.

“But we did stay mostly for you.” Shirley corrects, eyeing Abed sternly.

“I can’t wait to see the building where the ‘ _Friends_ ’ apartments are supposed to be.” Abed continues pensively, as if Shirley hasn’t spoken.

“Well, anyway, we bought Thai-food, is that okay?” Britta finally says, putting some bags on the kitchen table.

“Oh my God, Thai-food… I think my stomach just roared.” Annie chuckles.

Jeff sets the table, with Troy and Shirley’s help, while Abed and Britta talk to Annie, the three of them already sat around the table. They reheat the food and finally, they all eat together, just like old times, enjoying their meal while some music plays in the background.

“Who let Britta be in charge of the music?” Jeff asks at some point.

“I can’t stress enough how bad you music tastes are, Jeff!” Britta responds.

“At least, I’m not listening to Natalie is Freezing.” He says before sticking out his tongue.

“Don’t start, you two.” Shirley interjects while Britta and Jeff stick out their tongues to each other. “So, Annie, are you parents coming to visit any time soon?” She continues, smiling softly to Annie.

“Well… They called yesterday but they said they had a lot going on these days, so they probably won’t be able to come until… Huh. They didn’t say when, actually.” Annie shrugs.

Everyone makes an empathetic face at Annie, who has lowered her eyes and keeps twisting her noodles distractedly around her chopsticks. They all know that Annie’s parents have never been very caring regarding their daughter’s life. After all, Annie’s the one who has decided to go to rehab on her own, since her parents haven't signed her up, despite her Adderall addiction. Nevertheless, the group feels saddened to see that they aren’t even able to come and check on their daughter after she’s been in a coma for three months.

Britta, who is sitting next to Annie, decides to take her hand and squeeze it gently to show her she’s not alone in this. Annie raises her head and smiles genuinely at Britta.

“I’m lucky I have you, guys.” Annie whispers.

“Aww.” Shirley lets out.

“We are the lucky ones since we got you back.”

Annie turns her head to Jeff, sitting next to her at the head of the table. He winks at her and takes her hand in his. She sighs, looking simultaneously at Britta holding her left hand, Jeff holding her right hand and Troy, Shirley and Abed, gently smiling at her.

“Okay, I think we need to stop right now or I’m going to cry.” Annie chuckles, letting go of Jeff and Britta’s hands.

The rest of the evening goes by and they all have a pleasant time together. The talk is mostly done by Britta, Shirley or Troy, and everyone carefully avoids mentioning anything regarding Jeff and Annie's "situation", as it has been previously agreed upon. Once they’re done eating dinner, Britta gets a card game she found at the bottom of her purse and starts playing with Troy and Abed. Shirley decides to call her ex-husband to get her sons on the phone, meanwhile, Jeff cleans the kitchen up, a dish towel carelessly thrown on his shoulder.

“You sure you don’t need help, Jeff?” Britta yells from the table.

“All good.” He yells back.

He’s so lost in thoughts while washing the dishes that he doesn’t notice someone’s behind him and he jumps when he feels two arms wrapping themselves around his waist.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Annie says, resting her head on his back.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Jeff assures, unsettled by the feeling of Annie’s body against his.

Jeff tries to stay focused on rubbing the plates but soon enough, he gets distracted by Annie’s hands running slowly on his back. He feels a heavy pressure on his stomach, a warm and sweet pressure that gets heavier and heavier as he acknowledges Annie’s breath against him, Annie’s hands on his body, Annie’s hair tickling his forearm… _Gosh, why is any of this actually pleasant??_ He swallows loudly and tries his hardest not to feel anything remotely close to attraction at the moment. _Wash the damn plates and don’t pay attention, Jeff_ , he thinks to himself.

“Annie, do you want to play with us?”

Troy’s voice makes Annie part from Jeff and walk away from him. He silently sighs, as if he’s relieved, but at the same time, he feels kind of… frustrated?

***

It is almost 11 P.M when Shirley urges her friends that it’s late and they should head back to their apartment. Britta grabs the empty wine bottle they have just drunk to throw it in the recycling bin outside and insists on making sure they all recycle for the well-being of the planet. Nobody picks up on that and they all start waving goodbye at each other. Annie opens the door and hugs each of her friends going out of her apartment. First, there is Troy, then Abed, plus Shirley, and Britta…

“Jeff, where are you going?” Annie inquires, surprised.

Indeed, Jeff is standing in the doorframe, ready to follow his friends to the Airbnb. Shirley and Britta turn around to glare at him. Jeff freezes and takes a moment to understand what is going on. There’s a pause, an awkward silence that lasts only a few seconds but feels way much longer.

“I… guess he wanted to walk us down, right, Jeff?” Britta tries in a high-pitched tone.

“Y… yeah. Right. That.” Jeff stammers, nervous.

“He is obviously going to sleep here tonight, and all other nights, because you two are together. He is definitely not going back to the apartment with us.” Britta jibber-jabbers. 

“Sure, right right.”

“You guys are acting weird…” Annie points out, frowning.

“Sorry sweetie, but while you were at the hospital, Jeffrey stayed over with us, since he didn’t feel like sleeping alone in your apartment all the time.” Shirley intervenes.

“Aww, Jeff, is that true?” Annie squeals.

“I… Hmm, yeah, it is.” Jeff gives in, not knowing what else to say.

Annie then hugs him and while she doesn’t pay attention, Jeff frowns at Britta and Shirley, the latter mouthing “you owe me” to him. The girls eventually leave and Jeff and Annie get back into the apartment, now alone again. Jeff starts panicking when he realizes that he’s actually going to spend the night with Annie because she still believes they’re married. This fact hasn’t occurred to him once until now and he has no idea how he’s going to manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I think I would LOVE for Jeff and Annie to get a puppy!


	5. The first night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter gets real fluffy! Hope you'll like it!
> 
> (I think I ought to mention it, even though it's a spoiler: TW panic attack)

**_ Chapter 5: The first night. _ **

“This wasn’t part of the deal!”

“There is no deal, Jeff! You haven’t signed anything, you’re not in court!”

“What do you think is going to happen if we sleep in the same bed, Britta? Huh?”

“Probably just some cuddling and spooning. I can definitely see Annie being into that kind of things. Oh, and, you know, the thing you usually do when you’re in a bed: SLEEPING.”

“Yeah, cuddling and spooning. Because we are in a magical fantasy land with flying teddy bears and unicorns.”

“It must be exhausting to be this cynical all the time, Winger.”

“You know exactly what I mean. She thinks I’m her _husband_ , Britta. She hasn’t technically seen me in over three months. She thinks we’re in love, and she’ll probably want to…”

Jeff interrupts himself and doesn’t seem to bring himself to say what he’s currently thinking out loud. At the moment, he’s hidden in Annie’s bathroom, in order to call Britta, freak out and beg for help as quietly as possible.

“Want to what?” Britta eventually asks at the other end of the phone.

“Well… You know. Do… Stuff.” Jeff mutters, ashamed of even thinking about it.

“Sex, Jeff. It is called ‘having sex’. You’re a grown man, referring to intercourse as ‘doing stuff’ is worthy of a prepubescent teenager, you know.”

“Thanks for the pep-talk.” Jeff says sarcastically.

“What do you want me to say? Just… Make things up, say you’re tired or just that you’re not into it right now.”

“Not into it? Pfft, she won’t buy it, not a single man in their right minds would ever say that to their attractive wives.” Jeff scoffs.

“You’re not helping.” Britta scolds.

“I’m just conflicted, Brit. She’s my friend, she’s vulnerable, she’s younger and I respect her too damn much to just sleep next to her and act like it’s totally normal. I would feel like I’m taking advantage of her and it doesn’t feel right.”

“I get it, Jeff. I do. And it’s very decent of you to reason like that. But trust me, no one’s telling you to have sex with Annie. On the opposite. It would be, indeed, like taking advantage of her.”

Jeff sighs, while he can hear Shirley’s voice behind Britta yelling “Who’s going to have sex with Annie???” in a highly dissatisfied tone. He can perfectly imagine the situation over at the Airbnb: Britta standing in the middle of the living-room, trying to deal with his worries, while Shirley, Troy and Abed are listening and making faces once in a while according to what Britta’s saying. Maybe she even put him on speaker. Or maybe not. The point being, he hates himself even more each minute that passes, because eventually, this whole situation will backfire and Annie will resent all of them for letting her believe in a ludicrous lie and acting on it. And obviously, she’ll hate Jeff the most.

“Are you still here?” Britta asks him at some point.

“Yeah… I’m sorry for freaking out, I guess I’ll just wait for her to fall asleep, and then, I’ll go sleep on the couch.”

“That is probably the best idea you can come up with right now. And it is a very honorable choice.”

“I guess it is, in this completely fucked-up situation.”

“Yeah… Don’t torture yourself, Jeff. Remember you’re only doing this to protect her feelings, and eventually, she’ll get back to her senses, she’ll understand why we did this in the first place and everything will get back to normal. I’m sure it will.”

Jeff exhales sharply and doesn’t pick up on Britta’s comforting speech. He knows she’s only trying to soothe him and give him perspective but as usual, he’s being realistic and thereby, the situation is way too implausible and unpredictable to assure what will happen in the future. Afterwards, he wishes her good night and hangs up, staring absentmindedly at his phone. He stays like this for a few seconds, before hearing the preregistered laughs of a sitcom on television and reminding himself that Annie’s in the living-room, probably wondering what’s taking him so long. They already had a lot on their plates, Annie thinking Jeff was hypothetically cheating on her would be the icing on the cake.

He gets out of the bathroom and moves towards Annie. She’s in her pajamas, her hair pinned back in a neglected bun, holding one of her stuffed animals against her chest. Jeff notices she’s looking at the television screen without actually reacting to what is happening on screen. He has noticed it a few hours ago already: sometimes, she’s true to her old-self, lively and joyful, and the next second, she’s staring at a blank space in front of her, silent, as if she has completely disconnected from the real world. Her doctor has warned them beforehand, incapacity of focusing for a long time was a possible side-effect for a coma survivor. Right now, Jeff assumes this is what is happening.

He gently sits next to her on the couch and patiently waits for her to get back to reality. An episode of _The Nanny_ is currently airing on whatever channel Annie has put on.

“I had a lot of fun tonight.”

Jeff turns his head towards Annie after she’s said that. She’s smiling vaguely and chuckling lightly at Niles and CC’s bickering.

“Me too.” Jeff eventually approves, trying to relax.

“I feel a bit tired, though. It’s like my body’s reacting to my lack of physical activity from these past months. That’s how I’ve decided to refer to my coma, by the way.”

“It’s one way to put it.” Jeff smiles.

“Have I already told you that Fran and Mister Sheffield remind me of us?” Annie then asks playfully.

“Um… I don’t think so.” Jeff answers, intrigued.

“Well, just look at them and you’ll see.” She smiles.

“Or you could just tell me.” Jeff retorts, turning around in order to rest his arm on the back of the couch and face her. “I want to see things from your perspective.”

“Well…” Annie begins, turning around as well to mimic Jeff’s gesture. “First of all, for the most obvious part, they always tease each other. Like, a lot.”

“Okay.” Jeff nods to encourage her to pursue.

“There’s a tension between them that isn’t addressed for a long time, but it’s ultimately part of the teasing fun.”

“Huh-huh.”

“And… Fran feels attracted to him almost at first, and she isn’t really ashamed of it you know, because she’s an assertive and grown woman who knows what she wants. But, on the other hand… Mister Sheffield takes a while to admit to himself he’s also attracted to her, because she’s her employee, he’s her boss, from the beginning, there’s been an imbalance in their relationship, because he has power over her, sort of. It feels inappropriate to him.”

“I see. And do they end up together?”

“Of course they do.” Annie babbles. “After seasons of teasing and bickering, it would’ve been very frustrating if they didn’t. Just like us.”

Jeff purses his lips and nods, reflecting on Annie’s explanation. The teasing part? Sure, they did like to tease each other back at Greendale. Jeff has always admired Annie’s passion and commitment, especially at the time they created the Save Greendale committee. She’s always been a strong, fierce and dedicated woman. If only she had been closer to his age…

As for the attraction part… Sure, Jeff has always felt _something_ for Annie. Something different. Something he has never felt for Britta, or any other woman he’s been with. But he has never acted on it because of the age gap. At first.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t only because of the age gap. It was also because he was fully aware that Annie had her whole life in front of her, great things planned ahead, a brilliant career to pursue, and so on. Jeff knew he would never be able to give her what she truly deserved. Which is why he has let her go half-heartedly a few years ago, when she left for her internship in Washington, unsure she would ever come back to Greendale. And indeed, she never came back. Jeff’s heart hasn’t been unaffected by that turn of event, but once again, he hasn’t acted on it. Because Annie is a tremendous woman and she deserves the whole world. Not some insecure, older guy who teaches at their old lame community college.

Annie’s loud yawning pulls him out of his inner thoughts, therefore, he focuses back on her.

“I think I’m going to go to bed.” She says, yawning one more time.

“Of course, you must be exhausted.” Jeff approves. “I’m… I’ll join you later, I’m going to finish cleaning up before.”

“Are you sure? We can do it tomorrow –“

“I don’t mind. I just want you to get some rest in your comfy little bed. You deserve it.”

Annie smiles at him, before taking down her hair. It falls back graciously on her shoulders in light waves and Jeff can’t help but quietly admire her.

“Well… Good night, then.” She whispers before getting up.

“Good night… sweetie.”

Yes, Jeff has said to the others that he was keen on avoiding pet names. Nonetheless, he lets himself go, for this one time. Besides, he has heard Shirley using that nickname with all of them several times, so it’s not actually a couple’s pet name. It’s just a cute nickname you can use for a friend. Right?

Annie starts walking away and before heading to her bedroom, she stands in front of Jeff, settling comfortably between his legs and grabbing his face between her hands. They lock eyes with each other and all of a sudden, it’s like the whole world has gone silent and it’s just the two of them, right here, right now.

“I am truly the luckiest woman in the world.” Annie sighs.

Afterwards, she bends down in order to kiss Jeff’s cheek. The feeling of her soft lips against his skin gives him chills. It’s gentle, sweet and pleasant. When she parts from him, she runs her hand in his hair for just a few seconds and then, she goes to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Jeff stares at said door, taken aback. The situation is beginning to feel oddly too comfortable.

***

Jeff has fallen asleep in front of the TV, which eventually turns off by itself to prevent electricity waste. His body is twisted on the couch, his mouth wide open for the bit of snoring he has done when, all of a sudden, someone starts screaming. Jeff wakes with a start, looking all around him to figure out where it’s coming from. He hears it again, a shrill cry, full of terror. When he remembers where he is and why, his first thoughts are towards Annie, therefore, he jumps off the couch, running towards her bedroom. What if a burglar has broken into the apartment and is harming her right now? Jeff doesn’t think straight and his heart is pounding dangerously fast when he brutally opens the bedroom’s door.

The room is in the dark but he can see Annie, sitting on her bed, silently crying. He quickly checks his surroundings, but no one’s in sight. He cools off and sits at the end of the bed, uncertain of what he should do.

“What’s going on?” He bluntly asks.

“I… had a… nightmare… I… can’t...” Annie stammers in-between loud puffs of air.

Jeff observes Annie: she has trouble breathing, she’s shaking, crying, patting her hand against her chest… She’s obviously having a panic attack.

He gets closer to her and takes her in his arms to calm her down. Her head rests against his chest and he can feel her tears soaking his shirt.

“Okay, let’s try something here. Tell me five things you can see. Out loud.” Jeff quietly says.

“W… why?”

“Trust me.”

“Um… Okay. I can see… you… the bed… the window… my wardrobe… and the door.”

“Great. Now, four things you can hear.”

“Um… Your heartbeat. A… car passing by. The fridge. An owl.”

“Terrific. Three things you can touch.”

“The sheets… Your shirt… My hair.”

“You’re doing great. Now, two things you can smell.”

“Um… Your perfume and… the cleaned sheets, I guess.”

“Perfect, and one last thing: what can you taste?”

“Just my… saliva, I guess?”

Jeff softly chuckles and parts from her to look her in the eyes.

“Okay. How are you feeling now?” He asks her.

“Better, actually.” Annie exclaims, surprised. “My heart’s not pounding anymore.”

“I think you were having a panic attack. This is a mindfulness exercise my therapist once taught me. It helps you directing your focus away from your current stress so it can stop a panic attack.”

“Wow… I had no idea you were able to do that. Or that you went to a therapist, by the way.”

“It was a long time ago. Anyway, are you sure you’re okay now?”

“Yeah, I am. Thank you.”

Annie hugs Jeff and he can feel she’s been truly scared just seconds ago.

“You fell asleep on the couch, didn’t you?” She then asks. “You weren’t here when I woke up.”

“Oh yeah, I was watching TV and I lost track of time.”

“Can you… come to bed with me now? I’ll feel better if I know you’re next to me.”

Jeff tries to keep a straight face on but in reality, he’s freaking out. His whole plan of waiting for her to fall asleep and then, sleep on the couch, has epically failed. After what has just happened, he can’t possibly let her sleep alone. The whole point of this crazy situation is to look after her and make sure she’s okay. That means he has no choice…

After turning all the lights off in the living-room and making sure the front door is locked, Jeff comes to bed and lies down next to Annie. Her eyes are closed and she’s lying on her side, facing him. When she notices he’s next to her, she gets close to him and falls into his arms. He embraces her and starts stroking her hair to ease her off. Eventually, she relaxes and falls asleep again, but so does Jeff. And just like that, they sleep into each other’s arms for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short but I'll try to make the next ones longer than usual!


	6. Complications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments on the previous chapter, it means a lot to me that you are enjoying this! 
> 
> Here is chapter 6, don't hesitate to share your thoughts about it!

**_ Chapter 6: Complications. _ **

When Jeff wakes up, he is instantly blinded by the intense lighting in the room. He squints as he manages to see anything around him. At first, he is confused by the looks of the bedroom he slept in: it doesn’t seem like the one he’s been sleeping in these past few days at the Airbnb. He’s not quite woken up yet, so it takes him a whole fifteen seconds and the feeling of Annie’s head on his chest to realize where he actually is.

He looks down to quietly observe Annie. She is sound asleep, to the point where he is almost afraid she is back into coma again. Her hair are messy, spreading all over Jeff’s chest. Her cheeks are a bit blushed, and one of her shoulders is exposed due to her top’s strap that slipped on her arm during the night. Jeff immediately looks away from her bare skin, feeling like he is violating her intimacy, and proceeds to get out of bed as silently and slowly as possible, so that he doesn’t wake Annie up. When he is up, she falls head first into his pillow and moans a little before taking up the empty space he has just left.

Jeff searches for a piece of paper and a pen in order to write her a note that says “out for a bit, be back later, don’t worry, call if you need anything xx – Jeff”. He leaves it on the nightstand and then exists the room, closing the door after him. Since he hasn’t planned on packing clothes, he has to leave the apartment wearing the same shirt, same pants and same underwear as the day before. He almost runs to reach his friends’ apartment one block away. He runs up the stairs once in the building and when he is finally in front of the right door, he knocks insistently on it, not even worried that he might wake someone up. He doesn’t stop knocking until someone is finally willing to let him in. Just a few seconds later, the door slides open and he faces a discontented Shirley.

“Good Lord Jeffrey, what the hell is happening??” Shirley exclaims, visibly upset.

“We need to talk. All of us.” Jeff bluntly says, letting himself in.

Jeff walks to reach the living-room, where Troy and Abed both sit on the couch, each holding a cup of, what Jeff presumes is, hot cocoa in their hands. They are watching an old episode of _Inspector Spacetime_ on TV.

“Where’s Britta?” Jeff asks, while Troy and Abed slowly look away from the television to stare at him.

“Still sleeping but I assume your rudeness probably woke her up.” Shirley scolds, frowning.

“What’s going on, Jeff?” Troy asks him, looking concerned.

“You look like you’ve just done a walk-of-shame.” Abed comments, observing Jeff’s outfit.

“I kind of have, Abed. Remember, you’ve all let me sleep at Annie’s place yesterday, like it was no big deal. Do any of you actually care about her feelings, or respect her at all??”

“Jeffrey, how dare you say these things?” Shirley interjects, putting herself in front of Jeff. “We love our little Annie, and we want what’s best for her, that’s why we all stayed here and played this charade in the first place!”

“Yeah, well, this charade needs to stop, right now.” Jeff says, dismissive.

“What’s going on here?”

Jeff turns around to face Britta, standing in the living-room next to them. She is still wearing her pajamas and her eyes are puffy, like she hasn’t slept in days.

“What’s with all the yelling?” She asks before yawning loudly.

“Well, Jeffrey came knocking like a maniac on our door this morning because he has something important to tell us, apparently.” Shirley sums up in a low-pitched voice she usually does when she’s disgruntled.

“Wh – Jeff, what are you doing here??” Britta hollers, suddenly awaken. “Annie’s going to wonder where you disappeared to!!”

“I left her a note, I’m not stupid.” Jeff sighs, crossing his arms on his chest.

“Oh, looks like someone shame-walked here.” Britta smirks.

“I did not, I just didn’t have any other clothes to wear!” Jeff howls. “Guys, I had to sleep in Annie’s bed last night because she had a panic attack and she was anxious about sleeping on her own!”

“And by sleeping in Annie’s bed, you mean…?” Shirley immediately points out, frowning.

“I mean _literally_ sleeping in Annie’s bed, Shirley, not committing a sin that God wouldn’t approve, if that’s what you have in mind.” Jeff answers, rolling his eyes.

“Eradicate! Eradicate!” The blorgons shout from the TV.

“I thought you said you were going to sleep on the couch.” Britta intervenes, looking genuinely surprised.

“Did you even hear what I just said? Annie had a panic attack. She specifically asked me to come to bed with her. How could I have turned her down?? I was so afraid she would… You know… Anyway, I wanted to make sure she was okay, so I stayed with her, all night.”

“Well, that’s probably the best thing you could have done in that kind of situation, Jeff.” Britta says, while Troy and Abed nod to agree. “Why does it seem to upset you this much, though?”

“Because! I…”

Jeff eventually runs out of things to say and covers his face with his hands in desperation for a bit. He closes his eyes but he can still hear someone rushing towards the kitchen, grabbing a glass that makes a clicking sound, filling it and running back to him to hand him said glass. He grabs it with his right hand and right after, he feels someone taking his available hand and leading him to the couch. When he sits down, he opens his eyes again and faces four genuine concerned looks, squatted in front of him.

“I think I know what is actually going on here.” Britta eventually confesses.

“Britta, don’t –“ Jeff begins to say, but he shuts himself up.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, Jeff.” Britta softly smiles. “You’re dreading the moment Annie will recover her actual memories because you think she’ll resent you for letting her believe you were her husband. Am I close?”

Jeff doesn’t say anything out loud, because he fears his friends’ reaction to that statement, but he gives a meaningful look to Britta, who understands the innuendo right away and quietly nods.

“Well, if you’re feeling that much guilt about this situation, maybe we should tell Annie the truth, after all.” Shirley suggests, shrugging. “She may not take it well, but we must not neglect Jeff’s feelings either.”

“Thank you for being so understanding, Shirley.” Jeff says, slightly relieved none of them is blaming him.

“Oh but of course. God is understanding and forgiving.” Shirley sweetly says.

“I don’t know, I’m not putting your feelings aside, Jeff, but remember what the nurse said at the hospital?” Britta reminds them. “It could seriously damage her brain.”

“Well, I think she would be even more damaged if we wait weeks, possibly even months, to tell her the truth.” Jeff points out.

“What do you guys think?” Britta asks Troy and Abed, still silent at that point.

“Well… You both have a point but I guess Jeff’s right.” Troy shrugs, reflective. “She’s been awake for almost a week now and she still hasn’t remembered they aren’t married, so if it actually takes time for her to remember, Jeff can’t pretend for much longer…”

“Especially from a legal perspective.” Abed finishes Troy’s sentence. “And Jeff has a job at Greendale. At some point, the plan will fail because Annie will connect the dots and figure out some things don’t add up in this scenario.”

“Right.” Jeff approves. “So we all agree? We tell her the truth?”

Britta shares a conflicted look with Shirley, but eventually, they both agree, along with Troy and Abed. Jeff sighs and gathers up all the courage he can find in himself to stand up and walk back to Annie’s apartment.

“I can’t do this alone, though. I need you to come with me.” Jeff practically begs his friends.

“Of course.” Britta reassures him sympathetically.

“Just… Let me take the shower I desperately need first, put on some fresh clothes and then… We’ll go.”

***

Once Jeff is showered and dressed-up, the Greendale-five exit the apartment they have stayed in for the past week and walk towards Annie’s building. Jeff can feel his stomach tighten at the thought of Annie bursting out at their revelation, the thought of her betrayed look. Jeff doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle Annie’s hatred toward him, and yet, here he is, on his way to confess the thing that will make her resent him for the rest of her life.

They all stand in front of Annie’s door once they reached their destination, and everybody stares expectantly at Jeff, waiting for him to enter the apartment first. He takes a deep breath, unlocks the door and proceeds into walking in, followed closely by the rest of the group.

Jeff is immediately struck by how quiet the place is. He briefly glances at his watch on his left wrist: the time is almost 10 A.M. Annie has never been an oversleeping kind of person, thereby, he is genuinely surprised that she is still sleeping at the moment.

“Wait here.” He whispers at his friends.

He doesn’t wait for them to answer and instantly paces in the bedroom’s direction. The door is still closed, as if nobody entered or existed the room after he left earlier. He slowly pulls the handle down and scans the bedroom. He spots Annie’s figure, lying in bed, in the almost exact same position as before. Jeff isn’t quite sure why but suddenly, a truly bad feeling overwhelms him.

“Annie?” Jeff calls out, quietly at first.

No answer. He gets stealthily closer to the bed, and this time, he uses a more assertive tone.

“Annie?” He says loudly and harshly.

Still no answer. Jeff’s heart starts racing and he isn’t able to think clearly anymore. Something is definitely wrong, he knows it. Right now, he has this hunch, the kind that never fails.

“Annie!!” Jeff finally screams.

He shakes her up, gently at first, then more abruptly. She isn’t moving an inch. Jeff’s eyes blur as he can feel the distress eating him up entirely.

“Guys!!” He desperately yells behind him.” Call 911!”

“Oh my God, what is it??” Shirley cries while getting beside Jeff.

“Annie’s not waking up, something’s wrong, I – I don’t know what it is but please, do something!” Jeff incoherently stammers, panicked.

He keeps on shaking her but it’s like he’s touching a sluggish substance. Annie is completely unconscious and Jeff is terrified that she might be gone again.

“Okay, they sent in an ambulance, it’s coming any second now.” Britta says with a heavy breathing, her phone in her hand.

“Oh no, Annie, what happened?” Shirley whispers, tears in her eyes.

Jeff eventually abandons trying to wake Annie up and just lets himself collapse on her, holding onto her steady hand. He’s been on his knees for some minutes now and it starts hurting him but he doesn’t even care.

“Please Annie, please please, be okay…” He whispers next to her ear as the sound of the ambulance sirens make themselves heard in the distance.

***

Jeff eventually looks up to check the time. It is almost 1 P.M. They’ve been in that waiting room in that damn hospital for at least three hours now. Shirley is sitting in front of him, silently praying with her eyes closed, Troy and Abed are looking up all the articles and statements they can find about coma survivors on their phones, as for Britta, she is on the phone with someone, and Jeff can tell it is probably someone important. Not knowing what else to do, even though it’s a bit inappropriate, he listens.

“No but I… We don’t know yet, the doctors have taken her in right away but nobody came to tell us how she’s doing… I know babe, I hope everything will be okay… I know, I miss you too… Okay, I’m going to check on the others, I’ll call you as soon as we have any news, okay?... Me too, honey… Bye.”

Britta hangs up and comes back to sit next to Jeff. He can’t help but smirk at her, which she notices instantly.

“Gee, you weren’t actually spying on me, were you?” Britta sighs, giving Jeff a stink eye.

“I wasn’t spying on you, I just happened to hear what you were saying.” Jeff shrugs, to which she rolls her eyes.

“How convenient.” Britta says sarcastically.

“I’m assuming you weren’t on the phone with that guy you share your practice with and hate. Or if you were, there’s a lot you obviously haven’t told me.” Jeff teases.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I wasn’t on the phone with douche-Steve.”

“Who was it, then? Come on Brit, we could use the happy news right now.”

“Ugh… Okay, I’ll tell you but I’ve been waiting to say anything to the others, because it’s clearly not the right time.”

Britta leans in closer to Jeff, and from the deadpan look on her face, he understands she is going to share something important with him.

“I’ve been… seeing someone lately.” Britta confesses in a whisper.

“I figured that part out.” Jeff chuckles. “You should invite him over some time, the more, the merrier. Well, the situation sucks, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah… I guess I should invite _her_ over.” Britta corrects with a grin.

Jeff doesn’t immediately take up on Britta’s sentence but eventually, his eyes widen and he stares bewilderedly at her. She obviously expected that reaction, as she is giggling a little.

“Wow, I’m… I’m sorry if I’ve assumed… Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or – “Jeff stammers.

“It’s okay Jeff.” Britta assures, still smiling.

“Well, I’m happy for you, I’m sure she’s a great girl.”

“She is, actually. I was waiting for things to get serious before introducing her to you guys but… I think after all this crazy, shitty thing, it will be the perfect occasion. Abed will love her, she’s a huge fan of the _Die Hard_ movies.”

Britta giggles again and Jeff softens up at this sight. For a second there, Britta’s relationship status makes him forget about his concerns towards his fake wife.

“Anyway, enough about me… How are _you_ feeling?” Britta then asks.

“Well… You want the conventional answer or the honest one?”

“Tell me both.”

“Okay. I guess the conventional thing to say in that kind of situation would be ‘I hope she’s going to be okay but I’m holding on here, because she’s my friend and I’m here to support her’. However, the honest answer to your question would be ‘I hope she’s going to be okay because… I’m terrified she might not be. I’m terrified she might be gone again, maybe for good this time. And… I’ve already lost her once, I don’t think I could handle losing her a second time.’”

Britta stays speechless after Jeff’s answer and just stares at him, silently empathizing. Eventually, she exhales sharply and pats him on the back.

“I’m scared too, Jeff.” Britta assures him. “We all are. We just have different ways of expressing our fears, I think.”

“I just… I care about her so much, you know? It’s crazy, she means so much to me, and we aren’t even married for real.”

“We are heading back to that discussion we were having a few days ago, you know. Maybe there are some unresolved feelings here that you’ve been pushing back and are coming right up because of the situation.”

“Maybe… I don’t even know what to do if… when she wakes up.”

“It’s 100% up to you, Jeff. If you want to put an end to this, we’ll manage. We’ll her the truth. But if you don’t… Well, it looks like Annie’s in good hands anyway, you’re taking a really good care of her.”

Jeff and Britta smile at each other before they hear someone calling for them in the waiting room. They stand up at once, mimicked by Shirley, Troy and Abed, and walk towards the doctor who called for them, standing still..

“How is she?” Troy bluntly asks the doctor.

“She’s fine. She woke up a few minutes ago.”

They all sigh in relief at the doctor’s statement. Shirley grabs Troy and Abed’s hands in hers and exhales deeply.

“Okay, she woke up, but why was she unconscious in the first place?” Jeff asks.

“Well, we’ve run some tests and there was not any sign of relapse or other alerting things. It looks like she just passed out.”

“But she was asleep, how can she pass out if she’s sleeping?”

“Jeff, calm down, the doctors are trying to understand what’s going on as well.” Britta whispers to Jeff to soothe him.

“I understand your concerns, but medicine isn’t always an accurate science, especially when it comes to the brain. We need to call Miss Edison’s relatives but for now, she needs to stay with us for a few days, so that we can figure out what happened and if ultimately, she is capable of living on her own.”

“She’s not living on her own, I’m staying with her.” Jeff contradicts with a straight face.

“Oh, is that so? I’m sorry, on the records, it says that Miss Edison is living alone.”

“Usually, she is, but regarding the situation, I’m going to stay with her as long as she needs.”

“Are you sure about that, Jeffrey?” Shirley eventually asks, concerned. “Just this morning, you said – “

“I know what I said.” Jeffrey interrupts her. “But things are different now, I won’t change my mind anymore, I will look after her.”

“Very well, I’ll write that down in her file.” The doctor nods. “Regardless, she still needs to stay at the hospital, at least until tomorrow, but if someone lives with her and looks after her, we are able to allow her discharge.”

Jeff nods before taking a quick look at his friends. They all stare at him quietly, visibly taken aback by his decision.

“Do you want to come in and see her?” The doctor then asks.

“You should go, Jeff. We can wait.” Britta insures.

The rest of the group agrees, therefore, Jeff doesn’t wait another second before running to Annie’s room. This time, he’s not feeling insecure, embarrassed or uncertain like he used to be a week ago, before walking into Annie’s room. This time, he knows he made the right decision, and he knows from the bottom of his heart that his place is here, next to her. He knows that his place is to look after her.


	7. Reminiscing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is going to be a flash-back chapter, focused on Annie and told from her perspective.
> 
> It wasn't easy to put it into words, it's a very psychological writing perspective, so I hope I did it right!
> 
> I hope you'll like it, I'm looking forward to your comments! Enjoy!

**_ Chapter 7 : Reminiscing. _ **

Three months ago.

On that cloudy Wednesday morning, Annie Edison was getting ready to go to work, like any other regular day. She had prepared everything in advance the night before, as usual: her favourite mug waited for her on the kitchen counter, her navy jumpsuit was folded on a chair for her to wear, her pink fluffy notebook was opened on her desk, more specifically on Wednesday, 11th of January, the exact day Annie would later get into an accident and fall into a long, long coma.

On that particular day, Annie had a precise agenda: getting to the office in the morning, analyzing the last pieces of evidence that came in on the latest case she was working on with her co-workers; later on, getting lunch with Maria, her book club’s bestie, and in the afternoon, going to a crime scene with Michael, her usual partner. Nothing too exceptional, really, but at some point, something dramatic would happen, and Annie had absolutely no clue about it.

After getting her hair done and brushing her teeth, she grabbed her briefcase along with her notebook and ran out of her apartment to get to the subway in time. When she arrived at work, she immediately started working in order to finish up in time for lunch. She met with Maria in a little bagel shop a block away from her office, they chatted about the last book they’ve recently read, and at precisely 2 P.M., Annie hopped on the subway again and met Michael between the 14th and 1st avenues.

“Damn it, you’re always there before I am.” Annie breathed out once she was next to her partner.

“I know you’re usually early Edison, so I manage to come earlier than you.” Michael smirked while texting.

“Ha-ha, congratulations, you want a gold medal for that?” Annie squealed sarcastically.

“I’m fine, unlike a certain someone who shall not be named, I’m not constantly looking for recognition.” Michael shrugged.

“Yeah, right.” Annie scoffed. “So, what are we dealing with here?”

“Well, last night, around 2 A.M., our victim was walking home and on that corner, they got mugged and robbed by an unidentified individual wearing a hood.”

“Okay, has the victim already made a statement?”

“They have, they went to the police right after the assault.”

“Good, and have you checked with the local police if it’s possible to get a footage of a security camera nearby?”

“I was waiting for you to do that, Captain Obvious, but yeah, I was about to.”

“Great, we’ll take the footage back to the precinct and see if we can get something out of it.”

Annie started walking around the area where the mugging supposedly happened, searching for possible evidence, such as bloodstain, hairs, or anything that could enable a DNA identification.

“Sooooo…” Michael exclaimed as Annie crouched down. “You haven’t responded to my last text, if I recall.”

“I haven’t.” Annie calmly confirmed.

“Are you planning on responding any time soon?”

“I am not.”

“Ugh, come on Edison, you’re driving me crazy, I’ve been courting you for the past two weeks and yet, you’re leaving me hanging there, it’s frustrating!”

“I appreciate the use of ‘courting’ instead of ‘hitting on’, but I already told you where I stand on dating a co-worker, Peterson. Especially the one I’m regularly assigned with.”

“If that’s really the only thing standing in our way, I can quit my job, no biggie.” Michael shrugged, pouting casually.

“Oh my God, you are a piece of work, you know that!” Annie squealed, incapable of refraining a laugh.

“If that would make you agree to come to dinner with me, I would even get a job in Arkham Asylum.”

“That’s not even a real place, it doesn’t count!”

“It’s only an example for you to see the lengths I would go to for you, partner.”

Annie giggled and looked away from Michael, who was smiling at her. She didn’t want him to know that, but him being her co-worker was, in fact, the only reason why she didn’t want to go out with him. He could be a bit annoying because of his obsessive need for competition on the field, but apart from that, he was charming, smart, funny, and on Annie’s first days on the job, he was one of her only male co-workers who treated her respectfully and with equality. However, all of this wasn’t enough to cut it: she watched enough police TV shows and read enough books to know how that kind of situation would end up, and she liked her job too much to jeopardize it just for some adorable dimples and insanely beautiful green eyes.

Annie was about to cross the street when she felt her phone buzzing in her back-pocket. She grabbed it on the spot to make sure there wasn’t an emergency back at the office, but it was only the study group’s WhatsApp chat sharing some funny memes. Jeff’s name popped up on her screen, and as she always did when she saw these four little letters, she dreamily sighed and opened the message right away. Jeff had just sent a funny meme about scarcely crawling through the week towards the weekend, with a little note that said “miss you guys, hoping for a Greendale reunion soon enough xx”. Annie genuinely smiled, but at the same time, her heart was aching just a little bit. Fine, maybe Michael being her co-worker wasn’t the only reason Annie turned him down…

Annie was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings anymore and she started crossing the street on the crosswalk, even though the crossing-light for pedestrians had just turned red.

It all happened so fast that Annie didn’t even get a chance to realize what was happening to her.

“Edison, watch out!!!” She heard Michael scream from afar.

Annie heard a car honking, and afterwards, everything went dark and silent.

*******

The feeling of being in-between life and death was both terrifying and puzzling. Annie was here, but at the same time, she wasn’t. She was aware that she wasn’t actually awake, regardless, she could acknowledge some of the things happening around her.

At first, she was afraid. So she held onto anything she could remember, anything that comforted her. She thought about her life achievement, how she went from being Little Annie Adderall to being Annie Edison, forensics agent. She thought about her hard work to reach to the top and prove to everyone who ever doubted her that she was capable and determined enough to succeed. She thought about her family, her parents, her brother, who never fully supported her and let her enrol in rehab all on her own, eventually leading her to being self-dependent and not counting on anyone’s help, whatsoever. Notwithstanding, she thought about how proud she was of herself, of her life journey, of her achievements.

But most of all, she thought about the people who helped her through this journey. She thought about her friends. She thought about Troy, Abed, Britta, Shirley, Pierce, Frankie, the Dean Pelton…

And then, she thought about Jeff. Jeff Winger. The man she was desperately in love with at Greendale. The man she tried to forget with all of her heart when she moved to D.C. for her FBI internship. The man that was a huge part of her redemption, of her evolution, of her life journey. The man whom she was in love with, and still loved somehow, and probably will always love.

Thinking about Jeff stimulated her brain, which led to a strong brain activity that threw off the neurologists and the doctors studying her case. Even in her unconsciousness, when Annie’s brain figured out that Jeff was the thought that helped it going on, it clang onto it, strongly, passionately, to such an extent that all the memories Annie shared with Jeff began intertwining, and suddenly, nothing else was truly important.

***

Annie was almost positive she was dreaming. But also, she wasn’t one hundred percent sure. She was standing in a white room, a dazzling white in which she couldn’t see anything clearly. She could hear some voices in the distance. She focused on these voices to figure out if they were familiar. And it happened several times in the weeks that followed.

One day, she recognized her parents’ voices. They were talking to the doctor and asking how much the hospital room and the intensive care would cost. Annie hoped she misunderstood but she thought she heard her parents talk to each other at some point and mention the fact that they wouldn’t wait for her to wake up in months or years, and eventually, probably would have to “unplug” her to avoid paying hospital bills for the rest of their lives. Annie was not even awake but she knew her heart tightened when her unconscious self got that part.

One time, she heard Michael’s voice, her partner. He said he only came to visit once because it was too difficult for him to see her like that. He confessed his true feelings to her, that from the moment he had seen her walk into that office, he thought she was stunning. He told her she was an incredible woman, and that he wished they had more time together. Annie felt saddened, maybe she should have given him a chance, after all…

Another day, she heard her brother. He came to visit from whatever town he was living in now. Unexpectedly, he confided in her, but only because he thought she couldn’t hear him. He told her he missed her, and that he thought about her every day. But he also told her that despite all of that, he couldn’t come visit much. Yet again, Annie’s heart tightened in her chest.

Then, from time to time, she could hear Troy’s voice. Her heart always glowed at the sound of his voice. After all, she used to be in love with him back in high school, so she had a strong affection towards him. Troy was the one who visited the most. He talked to her like she could actually engage in the conversation, he let her know what was going on in his life, or in Abed’s life. From where she was, it felt reassuring to know life was still going its way. But even then, she couldn’t participate in all that and it desperately hurt her even more.

Other times, Shirley and Abed were here. Shirley’s comforting soft voice and Abed’s blatant monologues were her lifelines when she felt like giving up. She loved hearing about a new film Abed had just seen, or how Shirley’s kids had been doing. Annie was probably going to miss out on her friends’ life going on if she stayed in that damn place for too long, why couldn’t she escape?

And one day, the most significant and important day, Britta and Jeff were here. They hadn’t been visiting much either. Annie didn’t blame them, but their voices were all the more so comforting that she wished she could hear them more often. Britta was talking a lot about her practise. She was truly passionate about her therapist job, and Annie couldn’t be happier for her friend for achieving her dreams. Then, when Jeff was not around, Britta would talk about her girlfriend: how they met, how their first kiss was, how most of Britta’s clothes were now at her place. Annie wasn’t sure, but she guessed her name was Lorelai. Britta’s voice sparkled every time she would mention her name, and Annie felt so frustrated she couldn’t actually hug her friend and tell her how happy she was for her.

When Britta eventually left the room, Jeff came back in and was all alone with Annie. It happened maybe twice, maybe more, again, Annie wasn’t even sure if any of it was actually real or if it was just a weird dream. But she knew that when it was Jeff talking, the oppressing white room felt a lot more peaceful. When Jeff was talking, she wasn’t sad, afraid or frustrated anymore. She just listened carefully to every little word he said, she didn’t want to miss a bit and she knew it in her heart: his voice was home. Jeff was home.

***

“I wish you were here, Annie.” Jeff’s voice would say in the distance. “You know, I never actually said this out loud but it’s so much more difficult since you left. Greendale, I mean. Well, it’s also very difficult now that you’re here, like that, but… Gosh, I’m already rambling, sorry, anyway, you know what I mean. You always knew what I meant.”

A beat. Annie felt dizzy, and tired, but she tried her best to hold onto Jeff’s words and listen to everything he was saying.

“You know, I shouldn’t have let you go that day.” Jeff continued, his voice cracking a little bit. “When we were in the study room and we said goodbye. I was trying to be selfless, like you guys have taught me over the years, remember? I could be quite the selfish jerk sometimes, right? Anyway, at that time, I tried to ignore the fact that I cared about you, that I cared a lot. So I let you go. And you deserved the world, Annie. You deserved to do what you were meant to do, and I’m so happy you did. You became quite the extraordinary woman, you know. If I was ten years younger and I had met you today… Ugh, what’s even the point in saying it, huh? I’m not ten years younger, and you’re not even aware that I’m saying all these things to you. But my therapist said it would unburden me to say things out loud, even if it was to myself. And no, my therapist isn’t Britta, she can’t be neutral. Can you imagine, me talking to Britta about you? She wouldn’t understand. Oh God, I’m rambling again, sorry, why is it that you’re making me so nervous, even if you’re not even hearing what I’m saying? I must look like an idiot right now. Anyway… Long story short, I just wish you were here, and that things were different, Annie. I miss you… Milady. Please, wake up soon.”

After that, Jeff’s voice fainted away. Annie couldn’t hear it anymore. And the white room became suffocating again. If Annie could cry, she would. But she couldn’t even do that. For the first time since she was in that freaking place, she felt like she was actually dying a little.

***

Then, one day, something strange happened. One minute, Annie was in the white room, the next minute, it disappeared. The room just vanished. Annie didn’t know what was happening, and a spooky feeling overwhelmed her. Was this it? Was she about to disappear, just like the white room did a few seconds ago?

But nothing like that happened. Instead, she saw a silhouette walking in her direction. She should have been afraid of the unknown, but strangely enough, she felt nothing but peace. The silhouette came close enough to her so that she could recognize its familiar face.

“Jeff?” Annie asked in a distorted voice.

“Jeff” didn’t answer and just looked at her, smiling. He reached out for her hand, and without a moment of hesitation, she took it. When she held his hand, something unsettling happened in her. Not in her unconscious self, but in her actual body, lying in the hospital room for the past months. All of a sudden, she felt overwhelmed by many different feelings. Many different memories mixed themselves together, and just like that, she saw the study room kiss with Jeff, the moment they all reunited shortly after she left for New-York, the moment he drove her to the airport and said goodbye, the moment they reunited when Troy came back from his sailing trip, and weirdly enough, she remembered the wedding binder she had organized a few years ago, she remembered her holding-hands-at-Disneyland’s fantasy, she remembered how she wished Jeff would finally acknowledge his feelings for her, just like she did…

Then, everything went dark again. Annie’s memories and emotions stopped spinning. She felt something had changed. And indeed, for the first time in what felt like ages, Annie opened her eyes and saw the real world.


	8. Care to meet the in-laws?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present and Jeff's perspective here!
> 
> I really liked writing this chapter bc a lot of Jeff and Annie content that you are probably going to like... Don't hesitate to leave a comment to share your thoughts oh this! Enjoy x

**_ Chapter 8 : Care to meet the in-laws? _ **

Jeff decides to spend the night at the hospital to look after Annie, much to the surprise of the group. The morning before, he was determined to tell Annie the truth, and now, he is okay playing house with her. The truth is, he feels guilty and responsible for Annie’s passing out, since it happened in the short amount of time he has left her alone. Therefore, he doesn’t want to leave her side anymore until he is sure she is well again.

Shirley and Abed go back to the apartment to get Jeff some clean clothes and his vanity case. Britta and Troy stay in with Jeff to keep him company before the others come back. Around 3 P.M., they all meet up in Annie's room, just when Troy’s stomach begins roaring, urging them to look for the building’s cafeteria to get something to eat. Nevertheless, Jeff refuses to move.

“Just get me a sandwich for later, it’s fine.” He ensures.

“Are you really going to watch her 24/7? The doctors can take care of that.” Britta points out.

“I don’t care, I’ll stay here.” Jeff shrugs.

“Fine, you do you. But I’m starving, so let’s go.” Britta says.

“Turkey sandwich?” Abed asks Jeff.

“Whatever you can get. But not too many carbs though, I haven’t been at the gym in a long time.”

“Your abs won’t go away if you eat mayonnaise this one time, Jeff.” Britta teases.

“Can we go now? I’m going to wake up this entire hospital if I don’t eat.” Troy urges, his stomach roaring again.

The group exits Annie’s room to walk towards the cafeteria. Jeff is finally alone with Annie, and the second the door closes, he grabs his chair to put it next to her bed. He sits down so that he can face her, and he immediately holds her hand in his. He slowly traces her fingers with his, distractively looking at them, impressed by how soft Annie’s skin is. He must have tickled her somehow, because when he lifts his head up again, her eyes are wide open and she is staring at him.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” Jeff whispers with a smile.

“Hey there, handsome.” Annie whispers back in a raspy voice. “What happened?”

“You passed out in your sleep this morning, somehow. They want to keep you until tomorrow to run some other tests and figure out what went wrong.” Jeff calmly explains to her.

“Oh no.” Annie sighs, squinting. “I’m so sorry for being such a burden…”

“Please stop saying things like that, you are not a burden. I’m happy to take care of you.”

“But what about your job? You can’t stay with me every day forever.”

Jeff purses his lips at Annie’s remark and he genuinely doesn’t know what to say. First of all, he doesn’t even know what Annie thinks he’s doing for a living, and second of all, he should actually figure that out and call Craig Pelton later on…

“You’re more important than any job right now, Annie.” Jeff eventually responds.

“Aww.” Annie says, smiling.

“I’m so sorry this happened again. I was so scared when I realized you weren’t waking up this morning, I thought you were back into – “

Jeff doesn’t find the courage to finish his sentence, especially because of his voice cracking up. Fortunately, Annie doesn’t point it out and just slightly squeezes his hand, so that she can let him know she understands what he means.

“But hey, I woke up.” Annie softly squeals. “And I feel fine. Well, I’m not in killer shape, obviously, but at least, I don’t feel shitfaced or whatever.”

Jeff chuckles, not used to Annie using swearwords. Her job in forensics and her life in New-York sure has changed her. But he doesn’t mind. The opposite, actually.

“So I have to spend the night here then?” Annie eventually asks in a disappointed tone.

“Yeah but don’t worry, I’m staying with you tonight.” Jeff instantly answers.

“Wh – Jeff, I can’t ask you to do that for me!”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. That’s not the same thing. In fact, scratch that, I’m not offering, I’m doing it.”

“But where are you going to sl – “

“The arm chair is perfectly fine.”

“But you’ll have backache in the morning!”

Jeff doesn’t know if he should laugh or be offended by Annie’s concern for his back. She still thinks he’s that old, huh?

“I don’t give a fuck about backache, Annie. I just want to stay by your side, there’s no point in arguing on the subject, I already made up my mind.”

“Not even the doe eyes can make you change your mind?”

“Not even the doe eyes, smarty pants.”

“Okay, fine.” Annie sighs, though a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. “I guess I’ll allow it.”

“You better. For tonight’s dinner, I’m going to make you the best hospital vending machine salsa chips you’ve ever tasted.” Jeff jokes, relieved that Annie seems to be doing well.

“Ooh, sounds fancy, can’t wait.” Annie jokes back.

They start laughing together, and Jeff doesn’t even feel awkward about how comfortable and easy it is with Annie. He is only feeling happy, relieved and excited that Annie woke up this time, that she seems to be fine and that she will ultimately be like her old self. The Annie he cares about so much.

“By the way, everyone else’s here as well, they went down to the cafeteria because Troy was starving.” Jeff eventually informs Annie.

“Oh, they are here? I hope they’re not planning on staying tonight too, it’s going to be a little crowded in here and I don’t think the doctors will be okay with it.” Annie giggles.

“It’s just me and you tonight, don’t worry.”

“That’s all I’m asking for.”

Jeff locks eyes with Annie and genuinely smiles at her. It hasn’t hit him until now but he still hasn’t let go of her hand. They’ve probably been holding hands like this for more than five minutes. Yet again, it feels too comfortable and natural for him to feel embarrassed about it.

Suddenly, Annie’s eyes change. Jeff notices a tiny spark in them he has rarely seen before. A spark he once saw at the Transfer dance, and a second time in the study room, before Annie left for D.C…

“I know I probably look like shit but I really want to kiss you right now.” Annie then whispers.

Even her voice is different. It’s more mature, more assertive, more determined. Jeff is startled by this new confidence he sees on Annie. Startled, but strangely not dissatisfied…

“Do you want to kiss me too, even if my face looks messy and my hospital gown is the ugliest?” Annie keeps whispering in this frustratingly attractive voice.

Jeff’s inner thoughts are spiralling at the moment. God, of course he wants to kiss her. Up until now, he used to think his shameful attraction towards Annie had disappeared, but it has just come rushing back. Without being able to control them, his eyes start lowering to linger on her lips. He can still remember how it feels to kiss these lips. He has kissed them a few years ago, nonetheless, it is still clear as daylight in his head. He would love to feel those lips against his one more time.

But it is wrong. The context in which this kiss would happen is wrong. Annie thinks they are married. Annie thinks it’s normal for them to kiss. But it’s not. Jeff is not her husband. He is just a friend of hers who has always had feelings for her but never acted on them because he was insecure and ashamed of them. It would be wrong. It would definitely be wrong.

And yet, despite what his mind is thinking, the words that come out of his mouth are:

“Of course I want to kiss you.”

Annie’s eyes sparkle even more, and Jeff can actually feel the desire coming from her. He knows he shouldn’t do that. He knows it goes all the way against everything he has said to his friends the past week. But he just can’t help it. He can’t stop looking at those lips.

Annie straightens a bit to get closer to him, just as he’s bending down. He can almost feel his lips grazing Annie’s when the door brutally opens behind them.

“Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but the doctor wants to talk to you, Jeff.”

Jeff cringes at the sound of Britta’s voice behind him, and just like that, the moment has passed. Annie lies down again and is no longer intending to kiss him. Jeff hasn’t felt that frustrated in years.

“I’m coming.” Jeff mumbles without even turning around to face Britta.

“It looked important.” Britta insists before leaving the room.

Jeff exhales sharply and looks Annie in the eyes. The spark is gone. The moment has definitely passed.

“Why would the doctor want to talk to you and not me?” Annie wonders out loud, frowning. “I am perfectly capable of hearing what’s going on with my mental health.”

“It’s probably just for some paperwork, don’t worry.” Jeff softly says, even though he is slightly worried. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, if you need anything – “

“The nurses are one call-button away, don’t worry about me.” Annie interrupts him, smiling. “Just come back as soon as possible.”

Jeff nods and he eventually stands up, ready to leave the room. Before doing so, he gently kisses Annie’s forehead, which makes her heavily sigh afterwards. He gets out of the room and tries to gather his thoughts before meeting up with that doctor. He walks towards the waiting room, where his friends are, eating some sandwiches, next to a man in a white blouse.

“Ha, there you are, Mister Winger.” The man in a white blouse greets Jeff.

“Hi again, what’s going on?” Jeff bluntly asks, crossing his arms on his chest.

“I needed to check something with you regarding Miss Edison’s relatives.”

“What about them?” Jeff asks with a hint of curiosity.

“Well, as you can imagine, we had to give her parents a call after admitting their daughter back in our hospital this morning. They told us they would catch an early flight tomorrow morning in order to check on their daughter.”

“Okay, seems legit, but why are you telling me this and not Annie?”

“Well, I seemed to understand Miss Edison still believes she’s your wife, and I had to inform her parents that you were taking care of her and staying with her at her apartment until she fully recovers her memories, as you told me earlier.”

“That’s correct. And?” Jeff insists, starting to feel angry.

“And… They did not take it very well.” The doctor pouts while trying to remain professional.

“Huh. I see. Well, maybe if they actually cared about their daughter in the first place, I wouldn’t have to –“

“Jeffrey.” Shirley interrupts him promptly.

“It’s not my place to meddle but I thought you should know and maybe try to contact them to arrange things with them. After all, we don’t want to shock Miss Edison.”

“Annie won’t be shocked, I’ll make sure about that. Her parents can come whenever they want, they will be very much welcomed.” Jeff ensures with a pretend smile.

***

Later on, around 8 P.M, the rest of the study group decides it’s time to go back to their apartment. Jeff walks them down and wishes them a good night, thanking them for their help today.

“It has been a long day.” Jeff sighs. “But I’m glad you stuck around through it all, guys.”

“Of course.” Shirley coos. “Are you sure you want to stay here all night?”

“Positive.” Jeff ensures, smiling.

“Try to be nice with Annie’s parents tomorrow.” Shirley then exclaims. “They are probably worried enough as it is, no need to pile on their concerns.”

“I’ll be nice if they cooperate.”

“Oh Lord.” Shirley whispers while walking away.

“There’s a _Batman_ marathon on TV tonight.” Abed tells Jeff while saying goodbye. “You can watch that so you won’t get bored.”

“Thanks Abed, I’ll try to remember that.” Jeff smiles.

Before meeting with the others who are already waiting for the Uber across the street, Britta stands in front of Jeff with a concerned look on her face.

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Jeff asks, instantly touching his face.

“Your face is fine, dummy.” Britta sighs. “I just wanted to remind you that you probably shouldn’t get too attached.”

“What do you mean?” Jeff enquires, curious.

“You know exactly what I mean. I saw what happened earlier in Annie’s room.”

“Nothing happened, Britta, we were just –“

“About to kiss. I know what it looks like.”

“Look, I… I’m just feeling confused, okay? This is a very disturbing situation and I still haven’t figured out how to handle it. I just know that I worry about Annie and I want to make sure she’s okay and has everything she needs.”

“I know that. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just saying you should be careful, so you won’t get hurt.” Britta shrugs.

“Why would I get hurt? I know what I’m doing.”

“Well, remember that someday soon, we’ll have to tell her you guys aren’t married, because she’ll eventually figure that out by herself. It might become too difficult for you to tell her that if you get too attached at some point.”

Britta then pats his arm gently and wishes him good night before running towards Troy, Abed and Shirley. Jeff stands still, reflecting on Britta’s advice. She’s only reading into things. Jeff is nowhere near getting too attached. He is perfectly handling the situation and himself. Right?

Jeff walks back into the hospital and heads towards Annie’s room. When he enters, she is already asleep. He decides to sit as comfortably as possible in the arm chair, even though he’s definitely aware of the fact that he’s going to have a rough night. He turns on the TV and looks for the _Batman_ marathon Abed has told him about. He manages to watch the first half of the movie before falling asleep as well. It has, indeed, been a very long day.

***

The next day, Jeff can leave the hospital with Annie around 1 P.M. The doctors will call them back the minute they will have the final results to the tests they’ve run on Annie’s brain. For now, they haven’t found anything alarming, so both of them can go home.

Unlike the first time Jeff has taken Annie home, he doesn’t feel embarrassed or awkward about it. He is just relieved she can leave that hospital. However, when they get back to her apartment, Jeff already knows who is going to be there and even if he has prepared himself beforehand, he is still dreading that moment.

“Hello, sugar boo!” A shrill voice says.

Jeff has warned Annie that her parents would be here when they would return home, but notwithstanding, Annie painfully smiles, hiding her discomfort.

“Hi Dad, hi Mom.” She simply says.

“How are you feeling, honey?”

Jeff decides to observe Annie’s parents to make up his own opinion about them. Annie’s mother is a middle-aged elegant woman, with a fierce look and an intimidating smile. Annie’s father perfectly matches with her, as a middle-aged classy man with a daunting stature. Jeff would never have pictured her parents like that, and yet, here they are, staring intensively at Annie, who looks uncomfortable at the moment.

“We are so sorry we couldn’t come sooner, but you know, we have a very busy schedule…” Annie’s mother rambles, slowly walking around the apartment.

“It’s okay.” Annie says. “Jeff and my friends have been taking care of me.”

“Right. Jeff.” Annie’s dad scoffs, insisting on the “f” sound in Jeff’s name.

Jeff has only spent a total of thirty seconds with these people but he already knows he isn’t going to be a fan of them. He tilts his head up to look more confident and grins at them.

“Can we have a word with you, young man?” Annie’s mom asks in a forced polite tone.

“Sure.” Jeff responds.

The three of them proceed to move to the kitchen, while Annie stays in the living-room. Jeff gently brushes her arm when he passes next to her and he feels the tiny grip she tries to do on his hand. Apparently, Annie’s relationship to her parents is just as complicated as Jeff’s with his own parents.

Once they’re in the kitchen and Annie can’t hear them anymore, her parents drop the act and glare at Jeff.

“For how long do you think this nonsense is supposed to go on, may I ask?” Annie’s mom asks Jeff. “Oh, I’m Nancy, by the way. It would be appropriate for you to acknowledge your in-laws’ names, don’t you think?”

“And I’m Edward.” Annie’s dad adds. “Now that we’re properly introduced, why don’t you answer my wife’s question, huh?”

“Look, I know how bad it must look, what my friends and I are doing,” Jeff says, “but we only did it to protect Annie’s feelings. She woke up convinced we were married. The doctors said it could –“

“We don’t care what the doctors said.” Nancy interrupts him while waving her hand in the air. “This is utterly bizarre and we don’t want you to keep doing this anymore.”

“Our little girl has suffered enough as it is when she got that damn accident.” Edward continues. “You and your people can leave her be.”

“Besides, how old are you exactly?” Nancy asks, scanning Jeff from head to toe. “Allow me to say you don’t look like you’re in your thirties to me.”

“That huge forehead of yours is a sign of expected baldness in the near future, you know.”

Jeff composes himself as hard as he can while Nancy and Edward keep on belittling him. He is definitely not a fan of these people. How did such horrendous persons bring into the world the most amazing woman Jeff has ever met? It didn’t make any sense to him. And yet, here they are, demeaning him for being old and almost bald.

“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.” Jeff eventually says, as calmly as possible. “I understand that you have a say in this because Annie’s your daughter. But I also understand that, in fact, you don’t really have a say in this, because since Annie got into that coma, you have visited her like, what? Once? Twice? And since she woke up, you didn’t even stay longer than twelve hours to look after her. It’s definitely not my place to say it but what kind of parents do that?”

“Indeed, it is not your place to say it, young man.” Nancy scolds.

“Well, I don’t care.” Jeff shrugs, impertinent. “What I do care about, however, is Annie. She’s an incredible young woman who has just gotten out of a terrible experience and who needs all the support and the help she can get. And from what I’ve seen so far, you two aren’t even close to being able to give her that.”

Annie’s parents stay silent at Jeff’s statement, which endorses his thoughts.

“Right now, your daughter thinks she and I are an item.” Jeff pursues. “Right now, this is what makes her happy and helps her get through that shit. If you had actually listened to her doctor, you would know that by now. Is it completely weird and slightly inappropriate? Sure. I would never have thought when I woke up last Saturday that I would have a ring on my finger by the end of the day. But you know what? I made my peace with that crazy, twisted situation. Because Annie is worth it. Annie deserves to be cared for, because she is the most smart, determined, amazing woman I have ever crossed paths with. And despite what you think, I will not give up on her. As long as she needs me, I’ll be here.”

Jeff is surprised by himself for talking like that to Annie’s parents. Nancy looks down on him while Edward gives him a stink eye. But Jeff doesn’t feel intimidated by them. He said what he had to say, and that’s the only thing that matters. He stood up for Annie and he couldn’t be prouder of himself. A selfless action at its finest.

“I see.” Nancy eventually says, defusing a little. “You obviously have some feelings for our Annie, why else would you have agreed to play this little act?”

“The fact that I have feelings or not isn’t what’s relevant here.” Jeff contradicts, annoyed by their patronizing. “Annie’s health is.”

“Alright, obviously we won’t be able to change that man’s mind, Nanc’.” Edward then sighs.

“Are you seriously considering leaving your daughter with that man, Ed?” Nancy takes offense.

“What do you prefer, staying in that crappy apartment indefinitely until Annie finally decides to get better or letting big-forehead do the caring?”

“Hmm. Hadn’t thought about that…” Nancy whispers, reflective.

“I suggest we all spend a charming evening together to make Annie happy, and then, you can all go back to your so very busy lives.” Jeff says.

“I like that idea, Joffrey.” Nancy says.

She starts walking away as Jeff mumbles “it’s Jeffrey”, and goes back to Annie, who sits down on the couch, reading an old newspapers. She talks to her parents for a while, before they eventually move back to the kitchen to think about something to eat, leaving Jeff and Annie alone on the couch. Annie leans forward to whisper in Jeff’s ear.

“Did you really make a Winger speech to my parents?” She asks gleefully.

“I guess I have.” Jeff chuckles. “How do you know?”

“They haven’t been this nice to me in a while. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Annie smiles and gets closer to Jeff to rest her head on his shoulder as she keeps on reading. Jeff exhales, contented, and surprises himself by resting his head on hers, in a comforting and caring way.

Alright, Britta’s warning about getting too attached might have been relevant, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Annie's parents never actually appear on the show, I totally improvised their personnalities, but that's how I think they would have been if we had seen them on the show. Anyway, hope you liked it!


	9. Emotional rollercoaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna spoil a little here, but this chapters gets a little heated at some point... Nothing explicit but fair warning regardless
> 
> Thanks again for all of your lovely comments, I have a lot of fun writing this story and I'm so glad you enjoy reading it!!
> 
> Also, I wanted to say a particular thank you to the Discord #fanfic Channel for supporting and encouraging me to write. Special thanks to Skitzer1985, Childish_Glover, HareStomp (Kian), 1sttimefeeling (jeffwing) and AlmightyMirage, (Mirage). They all post work here as well, you should check them out!

**_ Chapter 9: Emotional rollercoaster. _ **

It’s already late in the evening when Nancy and Edward, Annie’s parents, decide it’s time to head back to their hotel. They briefly say goodbye to Jeff and embrace Annie in a very solemn way. They promise they will come back whenever they have time but Annie doesn’t respond to that and simply smiles. Once they’ve exited the apartment, Annie exhales sharply and chuckles.

“What is it?” Jeff asks her while pouring himself a glass of Scotch.

“Nothing, it’s… It feels weird that you and I had dinner with my parents, I don’t know why.” Annie shrugs, pulling her hair back.

 _Probably because it’s the first time we did such a thing_ , Jeff thinks to himself.

“They managed to stay civil almost all the way through dinner, it’s impressive.” Annie adds, sitting on the edge of the table.

“I don’t know if I would call your dad obsessing over my forehead civil, but I guess you know them better than I do.” Jeff laughs.

“Oh trust me, they were the closest to being nice.” Annie scoffs.

Jeff takes a sip of his Scotch and actually savours it. The past few days have been very stressful for him and he hasn’t realized until now how tensed he has been.

“Just out of curiosity,” Jeff begins while sitting next to Annie, “are you getting some flashbacks from the memories you’ve lost during coma?”

“Hmm, not so much, actually.” Annie answers while thinking. “Luckily, I remember all the important details, so that’s what matters. And the doctors are confident that my memories will come back eventually, so I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself.”

“You’re right, you need to give yourself a rest.”

“Yeah… I’m kind of afraid to go to bed tonight, to be honest.” Annie confesses in a shy whisper, lowering her eyes to the ground. “I had a panic attack and passed out just in one night, what is going to happen this time?”

“Nothing is going to happen, except for you getting a good night of sleep. You know why? Because I’m here for you.”

Annie lets out her typical “aww” and hugs Jeff right after. Jeff hugs her back and surprises himself by smelling Annie’s hair. It has a pleasant strawberry-like scent, probably from her shampoo. Even her hair is deliciously soft. How can everything about her be so soft and sweet?

Jeff takes a liberating shower before coming to bed with Annie that night. He still feels a little bit weird about going to bed with her, but after what happened last night, he puts his own feelings aside and only thinks about Annie’s well-being. Two people can totally sleep in the same bed without any ambiguity or physical contact happening. It’s not a big deal.

He puts on some shorts and oversized shirt once he’s out of the shower before going to the bedroom. He walks in while Annie is putting her pyjamas on. She isn’t facing him but he has just the right time to see her bare skin while she removes her bra, throws it on the nearest chair and delicately puts on her _Lilo & Stitch_ shirt. She is still in her panties, though, and apparently intends to stay this way. Jeff tries not to linger on her legs for too long and quickly composes himself, clearing his throat to let her know he’s in the room. Annie turns around and smiles at him: obviously, she isn’t prudish around him, she thinks he has seen her like this multiple times. But he hasn’t. And it’s really hard for him to think about anything else at this moment than what’s under Annie’s shirt.

“Do you want to watch something on Netflix before going to bed?” She asks him in a high-pitched voice while looking for the remote.

“Y-yeah, sure, let’s do that.” Jeff stammers, thrown off.

“What are you into these days? Comedy, romance, horror?” Annie asks as she turns on the screen and looks through the Netflix homepage.

“Whatever you want to watch.” Jeff bluntly says.

“Okay, hmm… Oh, there’s a show called _Mindhunter_. Apparently, it’s about the beginning of profiling and criminal psychology in the 80’s. What do you think?”

“Perfect, let’s watch that.”

Annie squeals of content and clicks on the first episode before jumping on the bed and sitting comfortably on her side. Jeff slowly joins her and tries to stay at the edge of the bed so that he’s not too close to Annie. He sits awkwardly, arms crossed on his chest, and tries to focus the best he can on everything happening on screen, even though there is a very attractive woman lying next to him that he can’t stop thinking about.

They are one episode and a half down when Jeff relaxes a little. He settles more comfortably on the bed and finally looks at Annie. She is captivated by the screen and playing with a lock of hair between her fingers. She slowly blinks from time to time, her eyelashes following the movement. Her mouth is slightly open from the concentration. Her mouth… Jeff clears his throat for probably the millionth time and looks back at the screen.

Only a few seconds later, Annie yawns and gets closer to Jeff to lie down on him. She rests her head on his chest and wraps her leg around his. Jeff knows he should push her away, that he shouldn’t get too intimate with her. But he doesn’t move an inch and just lets Annie gently stroke his hair. It all feels so nice, why would he want to stop that?

Two episodes and a half down and Annie still hasn’t moved, but neither has Jeff. They are both curled up to one another, stroking each other’s hair. Jeff doesn’t remember having already been so cosy and at ease with a woman before in his life, and the ironic part is that he’s experiencing that with a woman he hasn’t even slept with.

At some point, he considers gently pushing her away, because they have become _too_ cosy. He shouldn’t be doing that. But just when the thought crosses his mind, Annie slowly straightens and, without any sort of warning, she kisses him.

 _Don’t kiss her back. Push her away. Tell her you’re tired and need to get some sleep_. These words play on repeat in Jeff’s head as he very much so kisses her back and is absolutely not pushing her away. He had forgotten how sweet her lips tasted. How _good_ it feels to kiss her.

Jeff lets himself go and puts his hand in her hair to get her closer to him as she slides her tongue in his mouth. The kiss becomes hungrier, more passionate. Jeff hasn’t felt so many thrilling emotions at once in a very long time and it’s ecstatic. He doesn’t want it to ever stop.

_It’s wrong._

Annie softly lifts his shirt up to put her hands against his bare skin. This alone gives him chills. It feels so good.

_It’s wrong._

Jeff takes his hand off her hair to slowly touch her skin, stroking her arm until getting to her leg. Touching her like this is such an incredible feeling that he briefly loses control of himself and suddenly bites her lower lip. She giggles in his mouth and doesn’t stop kissing him whatsoever.

_It’s wrong._

Annie grabs the hand Jeff has put on her leg and begins to lift it closer to a very different and intimate part of her body.

_IT IS WRONG._

It is only then that Jeff regains consciousness and brutally steps away from her. When he opens his eyes again, Annie is staring at him with bewilderment.

“What is it?” She asks, taken aback.

“Nothing, it’s…” Jeff begins, out of breath. “I’m not sure I want to… Tonight.”

“Oh.” Annie lets out, visibly upset. “You’re not attracted to me anymore? Because of the coma and everything?”

“Believe me, I am very much so attracted to you, especially right now.” Jeff ensures, dizzy from all the emotions he has felt while kissing her.

“Then what is the problem?”

“I just… I just think we had a very exhausting couple of days and that we should get some rest. I don’t want to risk anything while… with you.”

Annie purses her lips and looks frustrated at the moment. She sure has no idea how Jeff is feeling right now, but he tries to keep on a straight face regardless.

“Alright. Well… You’re probably right. We should get some sleep.” Annie blurts out.

Annie instantly turns away and lies down on her side, away from Jeff. As for him, he desperately tries to gather his thoughts while standing up and going to the bathroom. He locks himself in it and lets out a long and shaking breath. He almost lost total control of himself. Things could have gone very far if he hadn’t stopped himself when he did. How could he have been so neglected? What if he had slept with Annie tonight and she had remembered they aren’t married the next day? It would have been a total disaster. He can’t let these kind of things happen again.

When he comes back to bed a few minutes later, Annie has turned the TV off and looks sound asleep. Jeff quietly sighs and goes back to bed, trying to get some sleep as well and forget that incredible kiss.

***

When Jeff wakes up the next morning, the first thing he does is turning on his side to check on Annie. However, the other side of the bed is empty. He instantly freaks out and jumps out of bed to look for her. Did she remember anything and run away from him?

But he spots her in the kitchen, hair tied up, cooking something. He sighs out of relief and paces to get next to her. It smells like fried bacon and eggs in the kitchen. When she notices him, Annie softly smiles.

“Morning.” She says.

“Morning.” Jeff says back. “Did you sleep well?”

“Very. You?”

“Very.”

“Good. Do you want some pancakes?”

“Bacon and eggs are perfect, come and get breakfast with me.”

Annie nods and keeps smiling, but Jeff can tell something is different. Their moment of intimacy from the night before is long gone. Annie is distant now. She avoids making eye-contact with him, she doesn’t even touch him. She just goes straight to the living-room and sits at the table, while Jeff dumbly follows her lead. He tries to stop thinking about the fact that she may have recovered her memories and waits to throw it in his face.

“Are you mad at me for last night?” Jeff tries while sitting in front of her.

Annie pouts and still avoids his eyes, nervously untying and tying again her hair. She doesn’t even need to answer because that alone is enough to answer Jeff’s question.

“I didn’t want to upset you.” Jeff starts explaining, saddened by Annie’s behaviour. “I want you to know that it’s not something you did, at all. I just didn’t feel like it was right at the moment, you know.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself Jeff, I totally understand.” Annie says, playing with a cup in her hands.

“Annie, you’re obviously mad at me and I can’t blame you for that. But… Things are complicated right now and I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you, is all.”

“Well, after three months of not having sex, I thought taking advantage of me was precisely the thing you would like to do.”

Jeff feels slightly embarrassed at Annie’s mention of having sex, but he coughs to cover it up and tries to think about something to say that would ease the tension off.

“Unless you… did have sex in those three months.” Annie adds, finally looking at Jeff.

“Annie, are you seriously insinuating that I cheated on you?” Jeff exclaims, hurt. “I would never, in a million years, do something like that. I thought you knew me better than that.”

“Well, that’s the only logical explanation I have come up with for trying to understand why you rejected me last night.”

Jeff huffs and tries to remain calm. If only he could tell her the real reason why he has rejected her! But she is obviously not ready to hear the truth, therefore, Jeff has to keep up with his absurd lie.

“I just think we should… wait before doing stuff like that.” Jeff eventually says. “You just got out of the hospital and the doctors are still not sure that you recovered completely from your coma, so I’m afraid…”

Jeff suddenly stops talking, which arouses Annie’s curiosity.

“You’re afraid of what?” She asks, softening up a little.

“I’m afraid that I could possibly hurt you, or make things worse. And I really don’t want that.” Jeff admits.

Annie’s face finally lightens up and she doesn’t look upset anymore. She stands up at once and runs towards Jeff to take him in her arms.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how hard it was on you too.” She whispers while stroking his hair.

“It’s okay, I just don’t want you to resent me.” Jeff mumbles, soothed by Annie’s hand in his hair.

“Of course not.” Annie smiles before taking his face between her hands to look at him. “I can see where you’re getting from.”

Jeff smiles and realizes he had a stomach ache that just went away. He truly doesn’t want Annie to resent him.

“So…” Annie squeals at some point. “You’re still attracted to me, then?”

Jeff chuckles and puts his hand on hers.

“I’m not even going to answer that question because you already know what I’m going to say.”

Annie smiles and shrugs before laughing. Jeff loves when she is doing that.

“Hey, I have an idea.” Jeff exclaims before standing up. “Why don’t we go out for a walk after breakfast? Maybe walking around the streets of the city will trigger something in your memories.”

“Why not. I could use the fresh air. I need to forget about that horrible hospital scent.”

***

After they've enjoyed a garnished breakfast, Annie and Jeff both get dressed and leave the apartment for a stroll. Jeff realizes that he’s been in New-York for a week and the only places he has visited so far are his friends’ Airbnb, Annie’s apartment and the hospital. It could be nice to see other things more appealing.

Without even thinking, Annie takes them to a park a few blocks away from her place. It is not very big but there are families with children and dogs playing around, and it does feel nice to witness people’s happiness after everything they’ve been through.

“I think I usually sit on that bench to read a book or something, because the view is nice.” Annie says while looking at a green bench.

Jeff looks up and indeed, the bench is right in front of a small pond, in which some fish swim while birds fly over it. A few steps from the pond, there is a children’s playground where some of them play with little puppies. He can totally see why Annie is fond of this place.

“Let’s sit on that bench and see if something happens, then.” Jeff suggests.

Annie approves and sits down. Jeff mimics her and lets her intertwine her fingers to his. He probably should let the others know how everything is going but oddly enough, he has no interest in taking out his phone right now. He just wants to enjoy the moment. It is sunny out, he is hand in hand with Annie in a peaceful setting. Anything else seems unworthy of his interest for now.

Suddenly, he notices Annie’s smile slowly fading away. He frowns, instantly concerned.

“Is something wrong?” He asks. “Did you remember something?”

Annie stares at something in the distance, therefore, Jeff turns his head to see what she is currently looking at.

There is nothing but a man standing still, staring at Annie as well.

“Edison??”

Jeff falls apart. The man knows Annie. And Annie obviously knows that man too.

“Michael??” Annie whispers, troubled.

The peaceful setting has just turned into a nightmare. Now, Jeff wishes he could be anywhere instead of here.


	10. Fundamentals of jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end, guys... So obviously, things are going to get a little messy. But rest assured there will definitely be a happy ending to that story. Just after a little bit of drama though haha
> 
> Thanks again to the Community Discord #fan-fic channel, especially Childish_Glover, HareStomp (Kian), Skitzer1985, 1sttimefeeling (jeffwing) and AlmightyMirage (Mirage) for helping me brainstorm and giving me advice! You should definitely check out the works they posted here as well if you haven't done it yet.

**_ Chapter 10: Fundamentals of jealousy _ **

Jeff quietly observes Annie as she stands up, runs towards the man she has called Michael and falls into his arms. It’s like everything just went blurry and silent around him. He can see the two are them are talking to each other but all he can actually hear is an annoying buzzing sound in his ear. Eventually, he shakes his head and stands up as well to walk in Annie’s direction, not letting the man out of his sight.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here!” ‘Michael’ exclaims when Jeff is close enough to hear them.

“I woke up like a week ago.” Annie exclaims, visibly excited. “Well, there have been some complications, but the point is, I’m awake now.”

“That’s awesome, Edison.” Michael breathes. “Truly. I was so scared for you. I felt so guilty when I saw that car running you over… I wasn’t a good partner, I didn’t protect you.”

“It doesn’t matter, what’s important is that everything’s good now.”

Jeff lowers his eyes to see Annie’s hands grabbing this Michael guy’s hands, and he has to admit, he hates it.

“Hmm hmm.” Jeff then clears his throat.

“Oh, Jeff, I don’t think you’ve ever met Michael.” Annie squeals when she acknowledges his presence. “He’s my co-worker, we usually team up on cases.”

“And we make a hell of a good team.” Michael smirks. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name, man?”

“Jeff.” He coldly answers.

“Nice to meet you, Jeff. Are you Edison’s big brother?”

Michael’s question is the equivalent of a cold shower to Jeff. He tries to put on a smile as he represses the urge to punch the guy in the face.

“What are you saying, you silly!” Annie chuckles, gently punching Michael’s arm. “Jeff is my husband.”

Jeff shouldn’t feel satisfied at the moment but the defeated look on Michael’s face is almost as satisfying as watching his favourite soccer team winning a national game.

“I’m sorry, h – husband?” Michael repeats, astonished.

“Yeah. I must have mentioned it before… Right? I have trouble remembering the past year since I woke up, apparently, coma messed up with my brain pretty bad.”

Michael’s annoying smirk is definitely gone but now, it is Jeff’s time to grin pleasingly.

“I… don’t think you’ve ever mentioned having a husband, Edison.” Michael scoffs, trying to keep a straight face on. “But maybe I just didn’t pay attention when you talked about it. But also, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a ring on your finger.”

Annie frowns and instantly looks down on her left hand. Jeff’s stupid grin fades right away.

“Hum, why am I not wearing my ring?” Annie asks Jeff, apparently confused. “I haven’t even noticed until then.”

“I… guess they took all your jewellery off when you were at the hospital and they probably forgot to give it back or something.” Jeff lies, trying to be as convincing as possible.

“Maybe… That’s weird, we should give them a call later. Anyway, we were out for a walk, Jeff thought it might help me trigger some memories back.” Annie proudly exclaims, crossing her arm to Jeff’s. “And here we are, running into each other! It’s crazy!”

“Yeah… So wild.”

Annie frowns, startled by Michael’s haughty behaviour. Jeff’s impulse to punch the guy increases even more when he hears the way he talks to Annie.

“You know, _honey_ ,” Jeff says, insisting on the pet-name while rubbing Annie’s shoulder, “we should text our friends to get lunch together. What do you think?”

“That’s a great idea!” Annie squeals, clapping her hands together.

“Cool, I’ll text them.”

Jeff knows it’s childish, competitive, immature, ridiculous, and lots of other things, but he just so wants to rub in that Michael guy’s face that he will never have a shot with Annie. Which is why he gently grabs her waist and presses his lips against hers in a quick but tender kiss. When he parts, Annie looks surprised, but not unsatisfied.

“Hum, I guess it’s my cue to leave.” Michael says, scraping his neck. “Do you know when you’ll be able to come back to work, Edison?”

“Not yet, but probably not until a few weeks, though.” Annie answers, pouting. “The doctors have to give the go-ahead but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon.”

“Too bad, I miss partnering up with you.” Michael simpers. “Smith and Davis are giving me a hard time since you left.”

“That’s because they’re jealous of our impeccable working skills.” Annie jokes, shrugging sarcastically.

Michael laughs way too hard at Annie’s joke, which makes Jeff raise an eyebrow. That poor guy is really giving it all here.

Jeff’s phone buzzes and he immediately checks his messages.

“Britta just texted back.” He tells Annie. “She said it’s a great idea and that we should get some lunch outside because she’s craving a ‘baggle’.”

“Did she actually write it like that?” Annie puffs.

“Unfortunately.”

“Well, I’m down for a ‘baggle’ anyway.”

“Also, it might be Shirley’s last day in the city, she intends to book a flight to go back to Atlanta as soon as she can.” Jeff adds as he’s reading Britta’s text.

“Oh no, I didn’t even get a chance to actually talk with her.” Annie whines, disappointed.

“I guess she wants to get back to her business and her boys.” Jeff shrugs.

“Well, that’s definitely my cue to leave.” Michael intervenes, which annoys Jeff even more. “I’ll text you later Edison, in case you want to grab a coffee some day or something?”

“Sure, this way, you could catch me up to speed on all the gossips I’ve missed at work.” Annie exclaims with a wide grin.

“That was definitely the plan. Anyway, enjoy the rest of you day and get well soon. We miss you at the office.”

“Aww.” Annie sighs.

Jeff cringes so hard he’s afraid his teeth are going to fall out. Why can’t this guy take a hint, Annie’s “husband” is literally standing in front of him! He wants him to get the hell out of their way so bad he nervously clenches his fists.

“Anyway, I’ll text you.” Michael eventually says before walking in the opposite direction. “Bye, guys!”

“Bye, jerk.” Jeff mouths to himself.

“What a coincidence, running into Michael here.” Annie babbles once he is gone. “I’m relieved I haven’t forgotten anybody from my past, not remembering my co-workers would have been an issue eventually.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jeff grumbles, tucking his hands inside his pockets.

“Are you okay?” Annie immediately asks, frowning.

“Thriving, even.” Jeff replies. “Let’s go meet the others, Britta just texted an address not too far from here.”

“Hold on a second.” Annie grabs his arm to stop him from turning around. “You look upset.”

“I told you, I’m fine. I just want to meet up with our friends.”

“Jeff, please, don’t tell me you’re jealous of Michael.”

Jeff opens his mouth to say something but he closes it almost immediately. He huffs and starts looking at his own feet like they are the most interesting things he has seen in his life. Why is he acting like a stupid teenager right now?

“Oh my God, you _are_ jealous of Michael.” Annie says after a few seconds, puzzled.

“Well, does it really surprise you, though?” Jeff gives in. “That guy just basically asked you out and you acted like it was no big deal.”

“Because it _is_ no big deal. He’s my co-worker, we get along fine, at least, that’s how I remember it. And most of all, I’m not interested in him. I just think he’s a nice guy.”

“I really don’t see the appeal.” Jeff mumbles.

“Gee, you’re acting like a child right now, do you realize that?” Annie exclaims loudly, suddenly mad.

“Sorry if I’m upset that you were out here, holding hands and laughing with a guy who is most definitely very much interested in you, and on top of that, that you agreed to go get a coffee with him!”

“Oh my God, it’s just a COFFEE Jeff, he didn’t propose or anything!”

“He was almost drooling in front of you, I’m a man, I’m not stupid.”

“So that means I am, though?”

“That’s not what I said –“

“You know what? Give me a break.” Annie interrupts Jeff, officially angry. “I can be friends with a guy without you freaking out about it. I don’t recall freaking out when you were constantly talking about Britta.”

“What does Britta have to do with any of this?” Jeff exclaims, genuinely astounded.

“You know damn well what I mean.” Annie coldly says. “If someone in that relationship should be jealous, it is definitely me, because you actually have history with Britta, and yet, you’re still friends with her. But I’m a mature and confident grown woman, so I’m not making a fuss about it. Also, I love Britta, she’s my friend and I blindly trust her.”

“Well, Michael isn’t my friend and I absolutely do not trust him.”

“Well, you should at least trust _me_ , Jeff.”

Annie’s words feel like a punch in the stomach to Jeff. He gets a lump in his throat and is suddenly incapable of saying anything else. He realizes that he has massively screwed up on this one…

“You know damn well that I am crazy about you,” Annie adds, her voice cracking up and her lips trembling, “that I’ve been crazy about you for much longer than I care to admit, and that I would never, ever, do anything that could mess up what we have.”

Jeff’s throat is now completely tight and he can feel his heart pounding loudly all over his body. He can see tears at the corners of Annie’s eyes, and he hates himself for being the cause of her sadness.

“We should get going, the group’s going to wait for us.” Annie manages to say, quickly wiping a tear rolling down on her cheek.

She doesn’t give him a chance to say anything else and starts moving to get out of the park. Jeff feels like utter crap at the moment. He just went crazy jealous about a random guy hitting on his fake wife. What is wrong with him?

Annie walks fast, arms crossed, expression-less, ignoring Jeff. He feels frustrated and bummed that they are not currently walking hand in hand, like he started getting used to. He is such an idiot.

When they get to the restaurant Britta told them to meet them at, Annie finally smiles again and greets her friends with pure happiness. She keeps on ignoring Jeff, which makes him want to die a little inside. She sits between Shirley and Britta, while Jeff sits in front of the girls, next to Troy and Abed. They all start talking vehemently, while Jeff remains completely silent, sick to his stomach that Annie is mad at him and doesn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Eventually, Abed notices Jeff’s muteness, and his curious nature urges him to investigate.

“You haven’t said a thing since you two got here.” Abed quietly says to Jeff.

“I’m just not in the mood for chit-chats, Abed.” Jeff grumbles, his eyes locked on Annie.

“Did you two have a fight?” Abed enquires, eyebrow raised.

“Don’t take it personally but I’d rather not talk about it.” Jeff sighs.

“So, yes.” Abed figures out. “Did she remember anything from her actual life?”

“You won’t give me a break until I answer your questions, right?”

“Correct.”

“Fine…” Jeff huffs, turning around to face Abed. “We went out for a walk this morning and we ran into one of her co-workers, a condescending ass who has a totally obvious crush on her, so I got mad, Annie got mad, we argued and now, she won’t talk to me because I’m a jackass who hurt her feelings. Good enough for you?”

“I understand better the tension you two give off, indeed.” Abed says, pursing his lips.

“I don’t even know why I got so upset in the first place…” Jeff mutters loudly enough so only Abed can hear it. “It’s like I was genuinely – “

“Jealous?” Abed finishes Jeff’s sentence.

“Yeah…” Jeff admits shamefully.

“Doesn’t surprise me.” Abed shrugs.

“Why not?” Jeff asks, puzzled.

“You’ve always been jealous when there was male competition around Annie.”

“Huh? Where does that come from?”

“Oh you actually want me to name them? Fine. Vaughn, Rich…”

“Okay okay, not so loud.” Jeff interrupts, afraid someone might hear what they’re talking about.

“This is absolutely not a plot twist that you’re feeling these things for Annie, Jeff.” Abed bluntly says, vaguely smiling. “There was always an unresolved sexual tension between the two of you. Kind of like Mulder and Scully. Always partnering up, never addressing the tension…”

“Abed, there is no such thing between me and Annie.”

“In the darkest timeline, your evil selves are married and in love, Bonnie and Clyde style.”

Jeff stares at Abed incredulously, stunned by everything he is hearing. Even though that last sentence doesn’t make any sort of logical sense to him, Jeff reflects on Abed’s statement.

“It was only a matter of time until the unresolved tension becomes inevitable, Jeff.” Abed continues, in a serious tone. “Especially in that coma slash altered memories scenario. You can’t fight it.”

“But… Why would I feel all these things? It’s all a fantasy, a charade.”

“Because deep down, you wouldn’t mind if this fantasy actually became real. Which is why you still haven’t told her the truth. Classic.”

Once more, Jeff stays speechless, while Abed shrugs and takes a bite of his bagel, now looking uninterested by their conversation. But Jeff isn’t going to let it go until Abed gives him the exact piece of his mind.

“So what do I need to do to get rid of this… tension?” Jeff asks in Abed’s ear.

“I thought it was obvious.” Abed answers between two bites. “There’s not a lot of alternatives to address a sexual tension.”

“Abed, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?” Jeff says, concerned.

“Oh but I am, Jeff.” Abed whispers. “I am most certainly thinking what you think I’m thinking.”

Jeff expectantly waits for Abed’s final statement as the latter leans closer to him to whisper in his ear.

“In movies and TV shows, the only way two characters can get a tension gone is when they’re having sex.”

Jeff chokes on his fries, which draws everyone’s attention to him. Troy gets up and starts violently patting his back to give him a hand.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!!” Jeff shouts out before taking a long sip of water.

Jeff intercepts Britta’s concerned look and waves her off as she mouths “are you okay?”, looking for Annie’s reaction. He thinks he saw an ounce of concern for a second but she’s back to ignoring him again.

“I am not going to do that, Abed.” Jeff whispers in Abed’s ear once the others look away. “It’s wrong, and I’m not that kind of guy.”

“I didn’t say you had to do it, Jeff, I just answered your question. Remember, you asked me how to get rid of the tension. I can’t give any advice, I’m not impartial here, I always knew you two belonged together. Sometimes, you reminded me of Monica and Chandler. Except they are married for real. And they started their relationship by secretly dating and hiding from the group. I don’t think you two ever did that.”

Jeff sighs and abandons any other attempt to get useful help from Abed. He makes sure Annie hasn’t heard any of that but she’s just having a laugh with Shirley and Britta at the moment, not even slightly interested in him. She looks so happy… And it’s not because of him.

When they are all done eating, Annie and Britta stand up simultaneously and grin mischievously.

“Well, we’ll see you later, guys.” Annie squeals. “Girls time.”

Shirley stands up as well and coos satisfyingly, to which Jeff raises an eyebrow.

“You’re not spending time with us?” Troy asks, visibly disappointed.

“There’s something we would like to do, but just us girls.” Shirley says in a high-pitched voice while Annie and Britta giggle.

“You are not going to a strip-club or a sex-shop, are you?” Jeff can’t help but ask dismissively.

“Have you met me, Jeffrey?” Shirley plainly says, pointing at the cross she wears as a locket on her necklace.

“That’s none of your business, Jeff.” Britta taunts him. “But don’t worry, we’ll take good care of your girl.”

Annie lightly smiles, briefly making eye-contact with Jeff. For a second, he has hope that she isn’t mad at him anymore but it faints away when he sees her looking away at once.

“We’ll be back in a couple of hours, though.” Britta adds more seriously. “But hey, you can have boys time this afternoon! Drink beers, watch a football game, you know, manly stuff.”

“That’s incredibly sexist coming from you, Brit.” Jeff points out.

“Do you understand sarcasm, Winger?”

“Okay, well, have fun on your little girls’ trip, I think I’m going to head back to the Airbnb. Troy, Abed, you’re with me?”

“Actually, we were thinking it would be nice to sightsee the city a little.” Troy grins while Abed nods. “But come with us, it’ll be fun!”

“Thanks but I’m kind of tired, I guess I’m just going to go take a nap.” Jeff shrugs, feeling more upset than ever. “Have fun, all of you. See you later.”

Jeff is about to leave but he still wants to wait a few seconds to see if Annie is going to say goodbye to him. Like, hug him, kiss him, just whatever physical attention he’s dying to get from her right now. But much to his disappointment, she does no such thing. Therefore, he lowers his eyes and turns around to exit the restaurant, utterly defeated.


	11. The unresolved sexual tension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo this chapter was a real challenge to write. I rewrote stuff multiple times and I'm still not sure I'm satisfied ultimately. But I have to post it someday anyway, so here it goes. I hope you'll enjoy reading it anyway.
> 
> Again, fair warning: some heated times are ahead...
> 
> (Still a huge thanks to the Community #fan-fic Discord channel for helping me through my insecurities!)

**_ Chapter 11: The unresolved sexual tension. _ **

Even though Jeff said he would be taking a nap while the girls are together doing God-knows-what and Troy and Abed walk around the city, the only thing he’s done since he got back to the Airbnb is lie down on the couch, eyes wide open, feeling sorry for himself. The thoughts are spiralling inside his head, and he can’t manage to get Annie outside of it. Annie’s face, Annie’s smile, Annie’s happy squeals, Annie’s smell, Annie’s skin, Annie’s lips, Annie’s body…

Jeff gives himself a slight slap on the cheek and urges himself to think about something else. Abed’s words keep on playing in his head too. Unresolved sexual tension. What the hell was even that? Another movie trope?

Jeff regularly checks his phone. It is now 6:37 P.M. and nobody has gotten back yet. What are the girls even doing? Has Annie mentioned their fight to Britta and Shirley? Did they stand up for him or agree with Annie on how Jeff is a self-absorbed ass? No, he needs to think about something else.

Finally, his phone buzzes. Jeff jumps on it and immediately checks the screen. He has an unknown message request on Facebook. Jeff frowns. Who could possibly try to reach out to him on that social media? He checks the message right away and turns pale-faced while reading it.

_Good afternoon, Jeff. You may recall our earlier encounter today at the park with Annie. I hope you won’t mind, I did some digging after Edison said you two were married, because for fuck’s sake, she has never EVER mentioned having someone in her life the whole time we were working together. At first, I assumed maybe she was just being secretive about her personal life at work, and that it made sense that she rejected me when I asked her out. But some things don’t add up. For starters, I would’ve definitely noticed if she had a ring on her finger this whole time._

_Now let me get to the point: who the hell are you and why are you pretending to be Annie’s husband?_

_Whatever twisted reasons you have for faking it, I won’t tell Annie if you call me at the following number and listen to what I have to say._

Jeff starts sweating at the end of his reading and feels incredibly tensed all of a sudden. That fucking Michael guy is definitely trouble, he should have seen that coming earlier at the park. Jeff doesn’t know if he should fall for his blackmail or wait for the others to come back to ask them what to do. Just when he wonders that, another Facebook message pops on his screen.

_Maybe I should just text Annie and point out to her that going through her old phone messages would help her remember stuff…_

“Fucking manipulative ass.” Jeff mumbles before calling the number at the end of the first message.

It rings twice before someone picks up.

“Is it Jeff?” The person says at the other end of the phone.

“Yes, douchebag, it is Jeff.” Jeff bluntly says.

“Wow, you might want to slow down on the insults, man, trust me, you don’t want me as an enemy.” Michael scoffs, obviously enjoying this.

“Usually, when someone blackmails me, they are definitely listed as enemies to me.” Jeff retorts, not in the mood for mind games.

“I’m not blackmailing you!” Michael interjects, falsely offended. “I’m just trying to understand what’s going on here.”

“That is absolutely none of your business. Now, what do you want?”

“I told you, I just want to understand. One minute, Annie turns me down because she says she doesn’t want to date a fellow co-worker, the next minute, she’s supposedly married? I must say, I’m confused here.”

Jeff cringes again, livid at Michael’s revelation. So this guy has definitely been trying to get in Annie's pants. Lucky for him, they were talking on the phone, otherwise, Jeff wouldn’t have been so calm and patient.

“You’ve got to get over your ridiculous crush on Annie, because she doesn’t give a crap about you.” Jeff spits.

“Hey asshole, let me remind you that I work closely with the FBI and most police stations in the city.” Michael threatens.

“Yeah, I know that. You want us to talk? Let’s meet somewhere.”

“Fine. We can meet in Annie’s neighbourhood.”

“There’s absolutely no way I’m giving you her address, you creep. We’ll meet at the park. 9 P.M.”

“Fine. See you then, Mister Edison.”

Jeff hangs up immediately, infuriating. This can’t be happening. Not only can this guy blow everything up by telling Annie the truth, but also, Jeff doesn’t want to end up in trouble with the law because some jealous guy working at the police decides to make his life a living hell.

Jeff paces restlessly around the apartment, like a caged lion, until finally, he hears someone unlocking the front door. He rushes towards the entrance and faces Britta, who looks… different?

“What the hell Jeff, you scared the crap out of me!” Britta exclaims after opening the door and facing him. “Were you seriously waiting for us behind the door?”

“I heard you coming. What happened to your hair??” Jeff enquires.

When he said goodbye to the group a few hours ago, Britta had her usual hair, mid-long, wavy and blond, and now, her hair was dyed red and straightened.

“We went shopping and stopped by a hairdresser.” Britta explains excitingly. “We wanted fresh looks. And we needed the girls’ time. Especially Annie.”

“That’s great, I’m glad you had a good time together, but right now, there’s an issue I need to discuss with you.” Jeff impatiently blurts out.

“Did something happen?” Britta asks, now looking concerned.

“Something pretty bad, yeah. But I need to tell you in priv –“

“Hellooooo!” Shirley coos, sliding her head on Britta’s shoulder to face Jeff.

“You too, Shirley?” Jeff sighs when he notices Shirley’s hair looks different too.

“Britta and Annie convinced me to try something new.” Shirley simpers, delicately touching her now dark brown hair. “Do you like it?”

“You look great, Shirl’s.” Jeff says without even looking. “Britta, I really need to speak to you n –“

This time, Jeff isn’t interrupted by anyone but shuts himself up. He has just seen Annie, standing quietly behind Britta and Shirley, and the sight of her leaves him speechless. She has a new haircut too, but unlike Britta or Shirley, it completely changes her. Annie now has shorter hair, falling just beneath her ears, not even reaching her shoulders. It curls just in tiny waves, and the colour is still brown, only more brightened. Annie looks incredibly stunning and Jeff is absolutely not able to take his eyes off her.

“Helloooo?” Britta calls him, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Annie, you look… amazing.” Jeff says to Annie, completely ignoring Britta.

“Thank you.” Annie responds, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear in a nervous way.

“Jeff Winger, didn’t you have something to tell me just a few seconds ago?” Britta impatiently asks.

“Right, hum… Sorry.” Jeff stammers, stepping aside to let the girls walk into the apartment.

When Annie passes by him, they exchange a meaningful look, and Jeff almost forgets about the Michael issue while diving into her eyes.

“Jeff!” Britta calls him from the kitchen.

Jeff groans and regretfully breaks eye-contact with Annie to join Britta in the kitchen.

“I can tell you haven’t taken my advice on not getting too attached.” Britta whispers with a sad smile.

“I’m in full control of my emotions, don’t worry about me.” Jeff lies, quickly glancing at Annie walking towards the living-room. “We have a situation.”

Britta frowns, intrigued, and Jeff briefly lets her in on his encounter with Michael, his argument with Annie and his phone call with Michael just a few minutes ago.

“Well, that guy definitely doesn’t sound like good news.” Britta whispers at the end of Jeff’s explanation.

“What should I do?” Jeff asks her. “He can’t be the one telling Annie the truth, she will be devastated if it doesn’t come from us.”

“Well… Maybe we should tell her the truth now.” Britta shrugs. “She’s starting to notice things, like, she mentioned her missing wedding ring, she told me that she can’t find any wedding photos in her apartment, and it won’t be long until she eventually scrolls back on her phone and sees messages about you still teaching at Greendale amongst other things.”

“Shit, I hadn’t thought about that…” Jeff mumbles.

“I think it’s time, Jeff. Annie seems to be doing much better, I’m sure she’ll be able to hear the truth. We won’t be able to keep up with this for long.”

Britta’s words tear Jeff’s heart up more than he wants them too. He doesn’t even know how to break something this huge to someone. Especially while the particular someone is mad at him.

“I still need to meet up with that Michael jerk first.” Jeff grumbles.

“Do you want me to come with you? I can feel like you’re not really a fan of the guy, I don’t want to come bail you out tomorrow morning because you punched a police guy.”

“I do want to punch him very bad.” Jeff admits.

“Well, I’ll come with you and be your sensei or something.” Britta says. “We’ll explain the situation calmly and maybe he’ll hear us out.”

“He better. Otherwise…”

“We’re not punching anyone tonight, Jeff.”

By the time Troy and Abed come back from their tour around the city, it is 8.30 P.M. The group gets dinner together, even though Jeff’s stomach is in knots. Fifteen minutes before the meet-up time, Jeff and Britta get their coats on and prepare to go out. They make up a stupid excuse about getting some desserts somewhere, but Jeff doesn’t miss Annie’s irritated look. Is she actually jealous of Britta, sometimes? The thought had never occurred to Jeff. If only Annie knew what woman really made him go crazy…

It is 9.01 P.M. when Jeff and Britta get to the park. Jeff spots Michael sitting on a bench in the distance. He shares a look with Britta and when she nods, they both walk up to him. Jeff wants to look confident but in reality, he’s nothing but angry and nervous.

“Oh I didn’t know you were bringing someone.” Michael sarcastically says once Jeff and Britta are in front of him.

“Hey, I’m Britta.” Britta coldly introduces herself. “I’m a very good friend of Annie’s.”

“Is that so? Or you’re also faking your relationship with her?” Michael asks judgingly.

“Look, we’ve been friends with Annie for almost eight years now.” Jeff starts explaining, composing himself. “Very good friends. When she woke up from her coma, apparently, she was missing out on some things and we still don’t know why but she thought I was her husband. At first, we decided to play along with it, because the doctors said that it could shock her to know the truth right away. But now that she’s feeling better, we intend on telling her the truth. But she needs to hear it from us, her friends. So please, if you actually care about her, don’t ruin this. It could really hurt her.”

Michael pouts at the end of Jeff’s speech and looks reflective for a moment. Everything about this guy gets Jeff on his nerves.

“I don’t know if I can actually trust what you’re saying.” Michael eventually says, which makes Britta sigh. “I’m just worried about her, I don’t want random people taking advantage of her while she’s this vulnerable.”

“Random people, huh?” Britta rails, stepping forward to stand just a few inches from him. “Why don’t you take a look at that?”

Britta takes her phone out of her pocket and starts showing multiple pictures of Annie with all of them. Jeff, Britta, Troy, Abed, Shirley, Pierce, Frankie… Michael’s smirk faints as Britta slides more and more photos on her screen.

“You believe us, now?” Jeff impatiently asks when Britta comes back next to him.

“Hum… I guess so.” Michael whispers, obviously defeated.

“I don’t know what your relationship with Annie is but you need to step out on this one.” Britta tells Michael, who avoids eye-contact with her. “She needs to hear the truth from us. Trust that we have her best interests at heart, and we’ll trust that you do too.”

“Best interests? Your ridiculously tall friend right here seems to be enjoying the situation very much, from what I’ve seen.” Michael blurts out.

“Shut up you fucking idiot, you don’t know me and you don’t know what’s going on in my head!” Jeff angrily shouts.

“Jeff, calm down!” Britta severely tells him.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt Annie, so I’ll let you guys do the talking.” Michael says. “But if you don’t tell her the truth soon, I will definitely meddle. You may think you’re doing the right thing but it is wrong. She deserves better than that.”

Britta has to hold Jeff back to stop him from getting too close to Michael and possibly punching him. Michael takes a hint and walks away from them. Jeff is boiling with rage while walking back to the apartment as Britta vainly tries to calm him down.

“What a fucking piece of trash, who does he think he is to talk to us like that?” Jeff rambles. “He’s known Annie for, what, two seconds, and he thinks he knows what she needs better than we do?”

“Jeff, come on, the guy’s obviously having an unrequited crush and he’s hurt, we need to be understanding too. He’s probably suffering.”

“I don’t give a shit about him suffering, if he ruins things with Annie, I’ll – “

“Stop it, Jeff!” Britta interrupts him, standing in front of him. “I don’t recognize you, why are you so violent all of a sudden?”

“I just…”

Jeff wipes his face with his hands and exhales sharply. Britta patiently waits for him to finally tell her what is really on his mind.

“Okay, fine, you want me to say it out loud?” Jeff exclaims in a desperate voice. “You were right. I did get attached. I couldn’t help it. I did have unresolved feelings that I buried deep down since Greendale because I didn’t want to keep Annie from doing great things, and Abed’s right, there is definitely an unresolved sexual tension, last night we almost had sex – “

“Sorry, you what now??” Britta interjects, shocked. “I thought you respected her too much or whatever bullshit you’ve told me.”

“That’s why we _almost_ had sex and I stopped things before it got out of control. Anyway, that’s not the point, the point is that I have feelings, feelings I don’t want to have because now, we need to tell Annie that it was all a fucking lie and it will ruin everything. And I hate that. I hate that because I love her and I can’t stand the fact that – “

“Oh my God Jeff, did you even hear what you just confessed to me?”

“Britta, will you please stop interrupting me when I’m pouring my heart out to y…”

Jeff interrupts himself this time and reflects on what words just came out of his mouth. Did he actually just say… Love?

“Shit.” Jeff whispers, astonished.

“Yeah… I can’t say I’m surprised but I didn’t think you would actually admit it at some point.”

“I can’t be the one to tell her the truth, Britta. I can’t. I’m not able to do that.”

“Yes, you can. And you have to. It has to come from you, Jeff. You’re the one she thinks she’s married to.”

Jeff sighs heavily while Britta takes her phone out of her pocket and checks her messages.

“Troy just texted me, he walked Annie back to her apartment because she was tired.” Britta tells Jeff. “You should head back there as well and talk to her.”

“I thought we were going to do this all together…”

“Unless you want that shitty Michael guy to do it, you have to tell her tonight, Jeff. We obviously can’t trust him to keep his mouth shut for too long.”

Britta steps closer to Jeff and hugs him to give him support and comfort in this desperate time.

“It’s going to be okay.” She whispers while stroking his back. “You can do this. Call me as soon as it’s done.”

Jeff breathes heavily and can’t stop shaking as they part ways and he walks back to Annie’s apartment alone. He keeps on rehearsing what he is going to say in his head but nothing sounds right. Whatever nice words he pulls out, Annie will still hate him for lying to her and that thought makes his heart ache much more than he cares to admit.

Once he’s back to the apartment, he opens the door with the spare key he has taken from Annie’s things before he took her home the first time, and expectantly searches for her when he enters the room.

“Annie?” He calls out, his voice shaking.

“In the bedroom.” He hears her shout back.

Jeff swallows hardly and proceeds to head towards the bedroom, very slowly. He doesn’t know what he should have expected but he certainly did not expect to see her standing still in the middle of the room, obviously waiting for him.

“I was waiting for you.” She bluntly says, looking serious.

“Look, I need to tell you something important…” Jeff begins saying.

“No, let me tell you something first.” Annie interrupts him, determined. “You really hurt me today when you acted all jealous and insecure. I hated it. I hated it because you’re the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, and yet, you still don’t look like you believe me.”

“Annie, for real, what I need to tell you is really imp –“

“And I hated that we didn’t talk to each other for the rest of the day.” Annie keeps on saying, her voice full of emotions. “Even though I was mad at you, I hated that we were not close to each other.”

“I hated it too but –“

“And I hate that you keep on pushing me away when I’m trying to get intimate with you. I really thought you weren’t attracted to me anymore.”

“Believe me, I am very much attracted to you –“

“Then stop thinking it through and prove it to me. You can’t act all jealous about a guy, and then push me away.”

“Annie, there’s something you really need to kn –“

Annie interrupts him yet another time, but this time, not without her words. She abruptly presses her lips against his, except this time, it is neither sweet nor tender. It is hot, demanding, exulting. And this time, Jeff doesn’t even try to push her away because he’s been dying for her to do that all day long and for the first time since he pretended to be her husband, he doesn’t think about the consequences of his actions anymore and just lets himself surrender to his feelings.

Jeff lifts Annie up to hold her and lets her wrap her legs around his waist. Their kiss is so intense and passionate that Jeff feels dizzy. He walks her to the bed and lies down with her, running his fingers all over her body as she does the same thing with him. He thinks about what he was supposed to tell her in the first place for a short amount of time, he realizes that what he’s doing right now is that last thing he should do, but he doesn’t even care anymore. He just wants her.

Before he can realize it, Annie is taking his clothes off and doesn’t wait much longer to takes hers off too. She stops kissing him to make eye-contact with him, when Jeff notices a spark in her eyes he has never seen before. Normally, it would scare him to see this look, but against all odds, when he understands that Annie feels the same as he does, it overwhelms him.

“I love you.” She whispers, out of breath.

Maybe it is the heat of the moment, maybe he isn’t thinking straight anymore, regardless, Jeff doesn’t even flinch or hesitate before saying:

“I love you.”

They start kissing again, and in no time, the inevitable happens, and as Abed predicted, the unresolved sexual tension is finally and indefeasibly resolved.

***

Jeff wakes up the next morning feeling all weird and drained out. He quickly remembers what happened the night before and exhales sharply before letting his face drop in his pillow. He was supposed to tell Annie the truth and he ended up having sex with her. He can only imagine the merciless lecture Shirley is going to give him when she finds out.

Just like the other morning, Jeff wakes up alone in bed. He checks his phone to see at least five missed calls from Britta, two from Shirley and a dozen unread messages mostly filled with multiple interrogation points. Jeff groans, gets up and puts some pants on before going to the kitchen, where he assumes Annie is. He finds her sitting on the couch, looking through her phone with an odd expression on her face. Suddenly, Jeff has a terrible feeling.

“Hi.” He shyly says.

Annie lifts her head up to look at him and Jeff’s stomach starts hurting him when he notices Annie’s puffy red eyes. She’s been crying.

“I know everything, Jeff.” She slowly tells him.

Jeff feels like he has just fallen into a black hole. The pain in his stomach increases even more at Annie’s hateful eyes.

“When I woke up this morning, I remembered things.” She calmly explains as Jeff remains speechless. “I watched you sleeping next to me and I remembered. I remembered being alone all the time in my apartment the past year. I remembered that most of my days were about going to work and coming back, alone. I remembered visiting you all at Greendale because you are still teaching there –“

“Annie, please, let me explain.” Jeff interrupts her, dying inside.

“What is there to explain, Jeff?” Annie yells, tears rolling down her cheeks. “We were never married! We were never even in a relationship, for that matter! My brain put this stupid idea into my head when I was in a coma and you let me believe it was true!!”

“The doctors said it could be dangerous if we told you the truth right away, so we decided to protect your feelings and – “

“For fuck’s sake, Jeff, we had sex last night!” Annie lashes out, brutally standing up to point her finger accusingly at him. “I don’t think the doctors told you to sleep with me, did they??”

“I’m so sorry Annie, the situation was just really confusing and I got caught up in the moment, everything got out of control –“

“It was confusing??”

“I’m so sorry for last night Annie, I never wanted to make you feel like I was taking advantage of you…”

“I don’t think you understand, Jeff. If you’re confused, try imagining how I’m feeling. I’m not mad we slept together. I wanted to have sex with you, I initiated it and I don’t regret it at all. I’m mad because I’ve just realized what I thought was my life is just a stupid fantasy! You, Britta, Shirley, Troy, Abed, you all let me believe it was true!”

“Because we wanted to protect you, Annie. We were afraid that knowing the truth would hurt you even more…”

“Well, guess how I’m feeling now.”

Jeff wants to scream but he just stays silent. He tries his hardest to remain still but his hands are trembling and his throat is so tight it almost physically hurts him. He knew this day would come eventually, he knew it would be difficult, but what he didn’t know was how painful it would actually be.

“Why did you do all these things?” Annie squeaks, crying more and more. “Why did you hug me, kiss me, hold me close to you, pretended like you actually loved me? Why did you let me believe that you were actually my husband? You know how I feel about you, how I’ve always felt. It’s not even the fact that you lied to me that hurts me the most. It’s the fact that I just realized none of this was actually real, that ‘us’ isn’t real. And it hurts so much, Jeff. It hurts to realize after truly believing that we were finally a thing that in fact, we’re not. Why did you lead me on like this?”

“I didn’t lead you on, Annie, I love…” Jeff exclaims, unable to end his sentence because of his voice cracking up. “Fuck, I’m tired of running from the inevitable. It took me all these years to admit it to myself but you’re making me feel things I’ve never felt before and it fucking scares me.” 

Annie quietly sobs, closing her eyes to prevent the tears from escaping her eyes. Jeff feels so bad seeing her like this he almost wants to throw up. In the moment, he completely forgets about the speech he rehearsed in his mind and decides to improvise and speak with his heart.

“All that I’ve said, all that I’ve done, it wasn’t an act, Annie.” Jeff continues, getting slowly closer to Annie. “I meant it when I said I cared about you, when I said I was scared for you. I meant every hand holding, every embrace, every touch. At first, it started as a lie but… What happened between us last night… Yeah, it shouldn’t have happened this way, until then, I was making sure it wouldn’t happen. But you know what? I don’t regret it either. Because last night was amazing. I know I sound cheesy and ridiculous, I know it doesn’t sound like me, I know I should make a Winger speech about the power of friendship or whatever but I don’t give a shit anymore if what I’m saying now makes me look cheesy or ridiculous. I just want you to believe me. Please, Annie, believe me when I say we never meant to hurt you.”

Annie lets out a hiccup from crying too much, but she finally opens her eyes again to look at Jeff. He has never gotten like this over a woman before. But Annie isn’t just any woman. She’s _the_ woman.

“I want to believe you, Jeff.” Annie mutters in a raspy voice. “I really want to. You have no idea how many times I have dreamt of the moment you would say these kind of things to me. But this, now, it just feels wrong. It shouldn’t be happening this way.”

“I wish things would have been different, I swear.”

“But they haven’t. Let’s face the truth, Jeff. If I hadn’t woken up from that coma believing we were married, nothing would have ever happened between us. You would’ve never come back to me. Am I wrong?”

Jeff lowers his eyes to the ground and clenches his fists. Of course she is not wrong. Jeff had gotten used to Annie living across the country, and he was aware that he would probably end up alone, teaching at Greendale’s community college until he could retire. It doesn’t mean that he had made his peace with the idea. But he had already anticipated it.

“I wanted to tell you the truth sooner.” Jeff eventually confesses. “I wasn’t okay with lying to you like this. But then, you were so happy when you woke up and realized we were all here. And then, you were happy about me coming home with you. And then, you were scared of sleeping alone and you had a panic attack. And then, you passed out in your sleep and I was worried to death that something terrible had happened to you. And then, there was this kiss, the one that literally drove me insane. And then, there was me being jealous. I wanted to tell you the truth, so many times, but I never came around to actually doing it because there were all these moments where I only wanted to take care of you, to make sure you were safe. I wasn’t thinking straight because I wanted to protect you so badly it clouded my judgement. I know it sounds out of character. me, Jeff Winger, caring more about other people than himself? But it’s the truth. I guess Abed would say it’s some sort of character development. Anyway, I know the situation is twisted and messy, but you want me to be honest? I’m glad it happened because it opened my eyes. Sure, it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, I would have probably stayed at Greendale until the day I die without ever telling you how I feel. But I’m glad things happened the way they did. I have absolutely no regrets.”

Annie lets out a light sigh at Jeff’s speech and oddly enough, he feels like a tiny weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

“Believe me when I say I never meant to hurt you.” Jeff concludes after exhaling. “All of us, Britta, Troy, Abed, Shirley, we never meant to hurt you. I’m so sorry things turned out this way. I’m sorry for getting my feelings involved. And… I completely understand if you never want to talk to me again.”

“I just… I don't know, I’m really confused, Jeff.” Annie whispers, her lips shaking. “This is a lot to take in and I don’t know what to do. I don’t hate you, or the others, I just need to understand everything that happened since I woke up and… Just give me some time to figure things out. In the meantime… I think it’s best if you all go back home.”

“But what if you pass out again? What if something bad happens to you? Let us take care of you, now that you know the truth, it’ll be easier anyw –“

“I’ll call my parents and ask them to stay with me. I think it’s better this way. Besides, I’m not alone in the city, I know some people.”

Jeff’s heart painfully aches after that last sentence. By “some people”, she obviously means her co-workers, including Michael. Jeff is screaming inside at the idea of letting Michael take care of Annie, eventually leading them to be something more than just co-workers.

“If that’s really what you want, then, we’ll leave the city.” Jeff reluctantly says. “I just want to make a deal with you, if that’s okay.”

“I’m listening.” Annie nods.

“Give it a month and let me come back” Jeff suggests spontaneously. “You like big romantic gestures, right? Like the ones we see in the movies? Well, I might suck at it but let me try anyway. I can’t just go back to Greendale and pretend like all of this didn’t happen. I obviously need to figure some things out myself, I need to get my shit together, but let’s meet up again in one month and figure it out together. I’ll give you the space you need but Annie, I can’t just forget what happened this past week. Especially after last night. I just can’t.”

Annie breathes out and reflects on Jeff’s suggestion. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into him for suggesting something like that, but he doesn’t know what else to do. And he wants to have one last shot.

“Life is not a movie, Jeff. But... Okay. One month.” Annie eventually concedes. “Come back in one month and we’ll see where we’re at.”

Jeff sighs out of relief and relaxes a little. He’s been so tensed for the past minutes that his body aches.

“Please, if there’s anything wrong, promise you’ll call.” Jeff tells her.

“Jeff… For now, you have to let me go.”

Annie makes one step closer to him, so that their fingertips gently touch each other. Jeff desperately wants to take her in his arms but he controls himself. He wants her to make the first move, if she feels like it.

And eventually, she does. She gently puts her hand to his cheek and gets on her toes to kiss the other cheek. Jeff closes his eyes to fully feel the moment.

“Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you all.” Annie says before stepping away. “But I need some space now. I hope you’ll understand.”

Jeff nods and loses himself into her eyes. One month apart after spending almost an entire week so close to her feels like a painful eternity. But if being away for a month helps her forgiving him, he’ll do it a thousand times if need be.

Jeff packs the few things he had left at Annie’s apartment before going back to the Airbnb and breaking the news to the others. He wonders how they will react. When he picks one of his pens up from the coffee table, he notices Annie’s phone screen turning on. Jeff knows it’s wrong but he can’t help but squint at it.

 _hey Annie, was wondering if u were up for coffee tomorrow? :)_ \- Michael Peterson, 9.48 A.M.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are now 2 to 3 chapters left! Sharing this adventure with you was amazing and I will try to make the ending as satisfying as possible. In the meantime, thank you for supporting me with all your kudos, all your nice comments... That's mostly what made this story so special to me.


	12. The aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Including this one, there are 3 chapters left, that's official... I really can't thank you enough for all your support and your kind kind comments. Thanks for making this story so very special to my heart :)
> 
> So, chapter 12 is both from Jeff and Annie's perspective, and it's a very psychological one. How they deal with the aftermath of the reveal... There aren't really a lot of things happening but not to worry, chapter 13 will settle things for the happy ending Jeff and Annie truly deserve.
> 
> Anyway, no spoilers, I hope you'll enjoy reading it!
> 
> P.S.: As usual, a huge thanks to the Community Discord #fan-fic channel, these guys are the best.

**_ Chapter 12: The aftermath. _ **

Two weeks later.

_ Annie. _

While on her way to the hospital, Annie nervously plays with her necklace between her fingers. The doctors assigned to her case have called her earlier today to ask her if she was available to come and talk about their last tests’ results. Obviously, she wants to know if she will finally be able to go back to work and if her life could ever get back to normal again.

But deep down, she knows her life will never be the same. Now that the world her mind has built around Jeff crashed down to the ground, everything just seems dull and gloomy, especially since Jeff and her other friends left town. Which is why she can’t wait to go back to work, the only thing that can possibly make her happy right now.

Surprisingly, there aren’t too many people on the subway this morning. Annie lets her thoughts wander some more when her phone buzzes on her lap and she immediately checks it.

 _good luck at the hospital, fingers crossed they’ll enable you to come back to the office!_ – Michael Peterson, 11.08 A.M.

Annie chuckles and replies with a smiley face emoji and a fingers crossed emoji. Michael has been really supportive and helpful these past two weeks, regularly checking on her to make sure everything was okay. She could tell he was still hoping for more than just a work-friends relationship but after everything she’s just been through, she just couldn’t go down that road, and more importantly, she had no interest in doing so.

Even though she told him she needed space, Annie has thought about Jeff every single day since they all left two weeks ago. She didn’t even come with them to the airport to say goodbye. She just couldn’t. She needed time, she needed space. She needed to reflect on everything that had happened.

To this day, she keeps on forcing herself to avoid texting or calling Jeff. She needs to be strong, she needs to figure out who she is, what she wants and what she needs on her own. She can’t let him distract her, compel her. She has to do this alone.

Her meeting at the hospital goes even better than she would have thought. She can go back to work a week from now and can also finally start living on her own again. She can finally tell her parents to leave the city. Fortunately, they haven’t stayed at her apartment the whole time, they rented a hotel room. Notwithstanding, she has spent enough time with them for the next decade.

When she leaves the hospital, the first person she sends a message to is Michael, to let him know she’s going back to work the following week. Michael texts back a party gif, to which Annie doesn’t bother answering. She is just excited her life is starting to get back on tracks.

Then, she texts her parents and her brother. They leave her on “read” and don’t even answer. Annie sighs and smiles sadly, even though she can’t say she’s surprised.

And finally, she comes across the WhatsApp group chat named “Greendale’s fave troublemakers”. Troy had come up with that name; at first, the others thought it was cheesy, but they quickly got used to it. After all, it does sum up pretty well their years at Greendale Community College. Annie stares at the chat, uncertain. Should she text them to let them know everything is okay now? Or is she still feeling awkward about their set-up?

Sure, she felt betrayed, confused and sad when she remembered her wedding to Jeff was just a figment of her imagination. But even then, she wasn’t able to hate them. They were her closest friends. And Jeff said it himself, they did it to protect her feelings. How can you resent someone for caring?

Therefore, she takes a deep breath and starts typing a message.

\- **Annie**

 _Hello everyone. This is not exactly a peace offering but I thought you deserved to know the good news. Just got back from a hospital appointment and they said everything is fine, finally. I’m going back to work next week. I’m excited, I’ve been pretty bored lately. Watching Netflix and reading books isn’t even entertaining anymore. Anyway, I just thought you should know. Hope everyone is doing well. Probably shouldn’t say this considering how we left things off but… I miss you, guys. xx_ (11.15)

Annie hits the “send” button and exhales sharply. Someone replies only thirty seconds later.

\- **Britta**

 _Wow Annie, such exciting news!!! I’m thrilled. Really really glad to hear from you. We were starting to get worried here… Congrats on going back to work, I’m sure they all miss their fave forensics lady. We miss U too here. Some more than others, obviously, but I won’t give names. Just know that U can call me anytime. xx_ (11.15)

Annie sighs at the sentence “some more than others”. No need to be a genius to figure out Britta is talking about Jeff, they are the only ones left in Greendale. A minute later, Shirley answers too.

**\- Shirley**

_Hallelujah!! Wonderful, Annie!!!! I prayed for you every day. Come to Atlanta anytime, I’d be delighted to have you here. Lots of love, Shirley_ (11.16)

Annie smiles. She definitely can’t be mad at them forever.

\- **Troy**

 _Yaaaaay!!! You did it gurl!! We miss u so much, come visit us in L.A.!!_ (11.18)

Annie feels tears at the corners of her eyes, but she doesn’t want to cry. She has cried enough these past days.

Abed answers five minutes later with a GIF animated with a movie actor clapping excitingly. Annie laughs and now waits for the answer she unconsciously wants the most. Between the moment she steps off the subway and is back to her apartment, her phone still hasn’t gotten new notifications. Obviously, even though she wishes otherwise, she feels frustrated.

While she reheats a pasta bowl, Annie decides to call an old friend. They pick up almost right away.

“Annie, oh my God, it is so nice to hear from you!” Annie hears at the other end of the phone.

“Hi Frankie, sorry I haven’t reached out earlier, it’s been a crazy month.” Annie says, soothed by Frankie’s voice, as always.

“No need to apologize, I completely understand.” Frankie softly says. “How have you been these days?”

“Well, actually, I just got some exciting news today.” Annie squeals.

Annie and Frankie stay on the phone for almost an hour before the subject Annie has been trying to avoid comes on the table.

“So, I was on the phone with Britta the other day…” Frankie starts staying.

“Frankie, don’t take it personally but I’d rather not talk about it.” Annie interrupts her.

“I was just going to say she was worried about you.” Frankie eventually pursues. “They all are. Especially Jeff.”

Annie huffs and sinks into her couch, conflicted. Of course she does want to talk about it with someone impartial, but at the same time, she knows it is still a sensitive topic, and she can’t promise she won’t end up crying. She doesn’t want Frankie to endure that.

“They told you what they did, right?” Annie finally asks.

“They did. I was a bit startled and concerned, I must say, but I know they meant well. This was certainly not the best way to tackle such an unusual situation but I’m not one to judge, I don’t know how I would’ve reacted if I were in their shoes.”

“Always so diplomatic, Frankie.” Annie chuckles.

“How are you handling things in New-York?” Frankie then asks with her typical concerned tone.

“Well… I’m not going to lie, being alone isn’t always easy.” Annie confesses in a trembling voice.

“I see. Let me submit an idea to you. I have relatives in New-York that I am free to visit whenever I fancy it. What do you say I take a week off and come spend some time with you? If you don’t feel comfortable about me being around, it’s fine of course, I won’t come.”

“Are you kidding? Frankie, I would love for you to come by!! We can have girls’ night, I could give you a tour of the city. Besides, I only get back to work in a week, you being here will make it less boring.”

“Great, let me check what flight I could book and I can manage to be here tomorrow or the day after. Does it sound good?”

“It sounds perfect. I can’t wait to see you!!”

When Annie hangs up later on, she feels contented. Having Frankie over will change her mind, and possibly even help her figure things out.

***

_ Jeff. _

Jeff is the first one to read Annie’s text message on the group chat but he is also the only one who doesn’t answer. There are a million things he would like to say to her, but at the same time, he doesn’t know what to say.

Ever since he and Britta came back to Greendale, Jeff has been spiralling down the rabbit hole. He has stopped going to the gym, his drinking habits have become more regular and apart from going to work and buying some groceries, he hasn’t moved from his apartment.

It has been two weeks since they came back from New-York. Thereby, he would still have to wait another two weeks before going back there to see Annie. He was feeling like time slowed down, and it slowly killed him inside.

After Britta texts Annie back on the group chat, she instantly calls Jeff on his phone. He sighs and picks up after a few seconds. He is in his office at school and his next class isn’t for another hour so he has time to listen to her babbling, even though he doesn’t want to.

“Hello?” Jeff gloomily says.

“Hey, have you seen Annie’s text?” Britta asks him.

“Of course I have. I just don’t know what to say. She hates me, remember?”

“Stop wallowing, Jeff, she never said she hated you, she just needs time.”

“What do you want, Brit? I’ve got to get to class soon.” Jeff lies to end the phone call.

“I figured Annie’s text might hit you hard, so I called to make sure you were okay. Oh and come to the Vatican tonight. I would like you to meet Lorelai.”

Jeff’s curiosity is aroused and he straightens on his chair, even though Britta can’t see him.

“Is that a lie to convince me to come out of my apartment or are you actually planning on introducing us?” Jeff asks, suspicious.

“It’s not a lie, I want my friends to meet Lorelai and as you were the first one to know about her, it is only fair that you’re also the first one to meet her. What do you say?”

“Well… I say see you tonight at 8.”

***

Much to his surprise, Jeff spends a lovely evening with Britta and Lorelai, her girlfriend. The two of them seem to really get along and belong together, and even though Jeff will never admit it out loud, he is more than happy for Britta. At least, someone in their group is happily in love with the person they want to.

At some point, Britta goes to the bathroom and Jeff ends up alone with Lorelai. He isn’t confident about making small talks at the moment but Lorelai handles it for him.

“Don’t tell Britta but I was actually pretty nervous about meeting her best friend.” Lorelai tells him in a pretend confidential gesture.

“Britta refers to me as her best friend? Shocker.” Jeff laughs.

“Well, she doesn’t call you that directly but she does talk a lot about you, so I figured it out on my own.”

“I guess we could say we’re best friends. Since we’re the only ones of our friends who didn’t get a chance to get out of this shithole.”

“Yeah, Britta told me your trip to New-York didn’t exactly end well.” Lorelai pouts. “If you want to talk about it to an impartial ear, I’d be more than happy to be your confident.”

“I think dating a shrink has affected you somehow.” Jeff teases. “But thanks, I already have a therapist so I’m good.”

“No problem, anytime.” Lorelai smiles.

“I’m back!” Britta exclaims while sitting back next to Lorelai. “I hope you two weren’t talking about me behind my back.”

“Lorelai was just telling me about a weird kink of yours.” Jeff jokes.

“Wh – What did you tell him?” Britta asks Lorelai.

“Just that you’re the best girlfriend in the world.” Lorelai simpers.

“Aww, you’re the best.” Britta simpers back, tickling Lorelai’s nose.

“You guys make me want to puke.” Jeff ironically says. “But you’re both cute, so I forgive you for that.”

“By the way, Frankie texted me, she’s going to New-York tomorrow to spend some time with Annie.” Britta tells Jeff.

“Huh. I see.” Jeff says, taken aback.

“I just thought you’d be interested in knowing that. Maybe Frankie can be your spy or something.”

“Doesn’t it go against the girls’ code or something?”

Britta rolls her eyes and Lorelai laughs at Jeff’s question.

“I don’t need any spy, I’m going to New-York in two weeks, I’ll be fine.” Jeff shrugs, even though he’s nervous just talking about it.

“You’re still holding that thought, huh?” Britta asks him.

“Of course I am. I’m sure Annie is too.”

“Maybe you should answer her last text in the first place to make sure of that.”

“Not in the group chat, though.” Lorelai interjects. “It’s probably best if he sends a private message.”

“Oh so you’re very much aware of what happened in New-York, huh?” Jeff points out, smiling.

“Sorry, I was just trying to be neutral.” Lorelai grins. “But hey, I’m definitely on the Jeff and Annie ship, from what I’ve heard!”

“I guess everyone except Jeff and Annie are.” Britta laughs.

“I’m not sure Shirley’s a fan of the concept.” Jeff comments.

“She will once you two get married and are right with God.” Britta taunts him.

“Please, the word ‘married’ triggers me now.” Jeff grins, taking a sip of his beer.

“But seriously though, you should text her. Not in the group chat, as Lorelai said, but in private. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

“I don’t know, Brit…” Jeff sighs. “I think I really screwed up on this one.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

Britta and Lorelai throw a meaningful look at Jeff and he feels cornered. After all, why not benefitting from their help to write something to Annie? He would be lying if he said he hasn’t typed all sorts of messages that he deleted right away before sending them in the past few days. He misses her so much and waiting another fourteen days before seeing her and talking to her is just unbearable for him.

“Alright, but I’m going to need your help on this one.” Jeff eventually concedes, making Britta and Lorelai grin satisfyingly.

***

_ Annie. _

As Frankie said she would be here the next day, Annie gets everything done for her arrival. She is so excited to have her friend coming over for a few days that she even writes a program down in her notebook.

It is almost midnight when Annie’s phone unexpectedly rings. She flinches a little but checks it afterwards. Her heart skips a beat when she reads Jeff’s name. He just texted her.

Annie wants to act casual and pretend like she doesn’t care, making him wait before reading and answering. But who is she kidding, she is obsessively curious to know what he has said to her. Which is why she doesn’t wait too long before grabbing her phone and reading Jeff’s message.

\- **Jeff W.**

_Hi Annie. I wanted to say “Hi milady” first but it just sounded weird writing it down, so I’m just sticking to a normal, casual greeting._

_Sorry for not answering right away to your group text this morning. I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t even sure you actually wanted me to reply. But I had all day to figure it out, so here it goes._

_These are such exciting news you got this morning. I’m thrilled you can go back to work, I know how much you like what you’re doing. And it’s amazing that you can be fine again. Obviously, it won’t make me stop constantly worrying about you, but hey, I guess I’ve gotten used to it by now, somehow._

_I probably should’ve called instead of typing this astonishingly long text but it’s easier to write things down than saying them out loud on the spot._

_Point is, I’m relieved and thrilled you’re okay. I haven’t stop thinking about you since we left the city. I hoped you were doing okay on your own, that you were not getting bored to the point you have seen every single movie on Netflix by now. So, it’s a good thing you can come back to work next week._

_I won’t be mad if you don’t want to text me back, btw. I just wanted you to know that I think about you, all the time, and that I want you to be happy more than anything. And right now, I am more than happy that everything is looking on the bright side for you._

_I don’t know if you’re counting days. I probably should be ashamed to say this but I am. Counting the days. There are now 13 days and a half until I fly back to NY. If you’ll still have me. I hope you will. This is honestly the only thing I can think about lately._

_I guess what I initially wanted to say here is that I miss you. A lot. I really can’t stop thinking about you, it has never happened to me before and it’s actually pretty annoying sometimes. When I’m in class, I can have a student asking me the same question several times and I will still not understand a word of it because you’re the only thought in my mind._

_I hope by the time I come back to you, you’ll have forgiven me. If you haven’t, I’ll understand, of course. If you have… Believe me when I say, I will never let you go, Annie Edison. I will never make that mistake again._

_Alright, enough with the rambling. I just hope you are okay. And I’m counting the days til I see you again. Have a good night… I know I already said it like a million times and it's probably embarrassing to say it again now but I really miss you._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Jeff._

Annie drops her phone to the ground before letting herself slowly drop to the ground as well. The tears start rolling down her cheeks at an alarmingly high speed, and she doesn’t know how to stop them. Her heart is pounding dangerously fast in her chest and her lips, as well as her hands, are shaking.

Jeff is wrong. Not everything is looking on the bright side for her. At the end of the day, she is still alone in this apartment, and the person she wants to be with the most is more than 1800 miles away from her.

Annie re-reads Jeff’s text more than ten times before the tears eventually dry on her skin. She sniffs, pours herself a glass of fresh water and drinks it at once before inhaling and exhaling slowly. She composes herself, and it takes a few minutes. But when she eventually feels soothed, she sits on the ground, back against the couch, and she starts writing Jeff back.

***

_ Jeff. _

Jeff is lying down on his apartment floor, an emptied bottle of Scotch in his hand. He is a little bit inebriated but it’s the easiest way for him to numb his feelings and make the pain go away for a while.

He just lies down, still, staring at the ceiling. From time to time, he lightly giggles. He feels numbed, he feels eased.

His phone is right next to his head, so he can hear it buzzing the second Annie answers his text. Because she will answer. She has to. She won’t leave him hanging there. He poured his heart out to her, she has to at least acknowledge him. Even if she doesn’t say what he wants her to say.

Obviously, what he sent to Annie is absolutely not what he wrote when he was with Britta and Lorelai at the Vatican. The three of them started drafting something, and Britta said it was simple and efficient. On that note, the girls left the bar hand in hand, and Jeff went home. Alone. He re-read the text a thousand times before completely deleting it. He started drinking. A lot. And wrote something new. He kept on deleting, typing, deleting bits, typing new bits. The more he deleted and typed, the more he emptied the bottle. And eventually, when there was no more Scotch left to drink, Jeff gathered all the courage he could find inside him and he hit the “send” button. To this point, he doesn’t really remember what he wrote, but at least, it was heartfelt, honest and true to himself. Annie likes that. Right?

When Jeff’s phone finally buzzes at precisely 1.17 A.M., he has fallen asleep. He is snoring loudly because of all the liquor he drank, but he has a peaceful rest. And this way, he will be able to wake up to the text that will keep him going until his reunion with Annie.

\- **Annie E.**

_Good evening, Jeff._

_Thank you for writing back. I admit I was waiting for your text the most. I started worrying that I wouldn’t hear from you but… Here we are._

_I assume your “rambling”, as you call it, came from the heart, so I appreciate it. I appreciate you opening up to me like this. Even if it isn’t easy for me to read about…_

_Of course I still want us to meet two weeks from now. I’m not sure how things will go but I do think we need to talk it all out. Face to face. And I hope that this time being apart will have helped us figuring things out and deciding what we want. What we really want._

_I probably shouldn’t say this either but… I miss you too. Way too much._

_Please, let me know when you book your flight, so I can get the apartment ready for your arrival._

_Good night, Jeff._

_Yours and only yours,_

_Annie xx_

_P.S.: Assuming your flight lands around noon, there are 13 days, 11 hours and 43 minutes until our reunion… Not that I’m counting._


	13. Advanced heart-to-heart talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm posting both chapter 13 and the epilogue at once. The adventure is officially over... I will get emotional later on, at the end notes of the epilogue. In the meantime, enjoy your reading!
> 
> (As usual, a huge thanks to the Community Discord #fan-fic channel for supporting me and helping me brainstorm!!)

**_ Chapter 13: Advanced heart-to-heart talk. _ **

Jeff hates traveling by plane. He has never been the traveling kind of person. He has never gotten out of Greendale much in his life. But since Annie had been into a coma, he had travelled more in four months than forty years. It probably says a lot about his feelings towards the young woman, now that he thinks about it.

It had been settled beforehand: Jeff booked a one-way ticket to New-York departing on this very Saturday morning. He told Annie he will get the return ticket while being at her place, but the truth is, he is secretly hoping Annie will ask him to stay with her. It is obviously an impossible scenario, Jeff’s life is still in Greendale, he has to go back there eventually. But he doesn’t want to think about it for the time being, he just wants to focus on his reunion with Annie. The reunion that will take place in no less than two hours and thirty-six minutes.

Jeff hasn’t been able to sleep the night before. His spiralling thoughts have kept him awake, and even though he has put as much concealer as socially acceptable on his face, he hasn’t been able to completely hide the dark circles under his eyes. He tried making that up by spending an alarming amount of time on his hair, hoping Annie will still find him attractive, somehow.

Jeff has a stomach ache that grows more intensely as the plane gets closer to New-York. He keeps on playing different outcome scenarios of his incoming figuring-it-out talk with Annie. The first one he thinks about is one where they feel so overwhelmed by their reunion they end up consumed by their passion and abandon themselves to their physical urges. Jeff mentally waves that thought away, as it is obviously the least probable one. Besides, thinking about Annie’s body will certainly not help him concentrate on what to say to her.

He also thinks about the worst scenario there could ever be. Annie has started dating Michael, or whatever guy, and she tells him they’re better off as friends. That single thought gives Jeff the beginning of a headache. Picturing that Michael jerk face doesn’t help either.

Then, he thinks about the best scenario that he could hope for. Annie forgives him, wants to give them a try, and she fully accepts him. This one is cheesy as hell but it does warm Jeff’s heart up a little bit.

When the flight attendant announces the plane is about to get ready to land, Jeff tightens his shirt collar for probably the seventh time and clears his throat. He has dressed up, a little bit, but not too excessively. He wants to act casual, but not neglected. Thus, he has opted for a blue shirt, his 400 dollars favourite pants and brown derby shoes. He probably should revise his definition of ‘casual’.

He also bought a new perfume. He hopes Annie will notice, and more importantly, that she will like it. Jeff rolls his eyes when he thinks about that. He has never, ever, been nervous about whether a woman would appreciate his perfume. Being fake-married to Annie really has changed him.

He briefly falls asleep before being awaken by the plane landing. The flight attendant announces they have arrived at JFK Airport. Jeff breathes out loudly. Here it goes.

***

Annie paces restlessly around her apartment, regularly looking at her watch. Jeff has landed forty minutes ago and has gotten into a cab twenty-six minutes ago. He is going to be here any minute now. That alone makes her gasp nervously.

She wasn’t keen on dressing up for the occasion at first. After all, she wants to act casual, like Jeff coming back for her is not a big deal at all, even if it obviously is. However, after emptying her closet and covering her bed with several different dresses, Annie has decided to do both casual slash fancier than usual. Therefore, she is now waiting for Jeff in one of her favourite auburn sundress, falling halfway on her thighs, with thin straps lightly covering her shoulders. She wears white sneakers on her feet that match up quite nicely with her dress. As for her hair, she just got back from the hairdresser, so that it can be just like the last time Jeff has seen her. Just a light touch of mascara on her eyelashes to emphasize on her blue eyes and _voila_. After agreeing she wouldn’t put too much effort into it, she has put just the right amount of effort someone would do before reuniting with the person they’re in love with.

Just when she checks her watch another time, she hears knocking on the door. Annie flinches, startled, but runs to the door anyway. She didn’t expect Jeff to get here this quickly but maybe the city’s traffic wasn’t as bad as it usual is. Maybe the odds are in their favour, for once.

Annie proceeds in unlocking all the locks on her door and braces herself before opening it. When she does, the soft smile she managed to put on fades instantly.

“Hum… What are you doing here?” Annie asks in a high-pitched voice.

“I was just walking by and I thought you’d enjoyed some coffee and croissants. Hello to you too, by the way.”

Annie stares bewilderedly at Michael, standing in front of her with a pastry bag and two cups of coffee.

“I… Thank you, that’s really sweet, but now is not really a good time.” Annie grins, thinking about Jeff on his way to her apartment.

“Oh, are you going somewhere?” Michael asks, frowning before eyeing her from head to toe. “You look great, by the way.”

“I’m just waiting for someone right now.” Annie retorts, her cheeks flushing. “They should be here any minute now.”

“You’re not really going to send away your favourite co-worker with his two cups of coffee and ridiculous pile of croissants, right?” Michael simpers, batting eyelashes.

“Hum… I don’t know, you kind of surprised me here.” Annie pouts, embarrassed.

“I was joking, relax.” Michael laughs. “Well, let me just give you these so you and your friend can enjoy it.”

“Oh, hum, come on in, you can put everything on the table.”

Annie steps aside so that Michael can enter her apartment. He places the pastry bag and the cups of coffee on the table, then, turns around to face Annie, who is constantly eyeing the front door to make sure Jeff doesn’t come by right away.

“You don’t mind if I use your bathroom before leaving?” Michael asks with a grimace.

“Oh sure, go ahead. Next to the bedroom, on your left.”

“Thanks Edison.”

Michael leaves his wallet and phone on the table before toddling towards the bathroom. Annie quickly texts Jeff to ask him in how much time he’ll be here, to which he immediately texts back “ _stuck in traffic for now. driver says it might take some 10 minutes more. i’ll keep you updated_ ”. Annie sighs out of relief and composes herself. Michael will definitely be gone by the time Jeff’s cab parks in front of her building. Awkward situation avoided.

While Annie quietly peeks in the pastry bag, she hears a loud buzz on the table, next to the cups of coffee. Her eyes are immediately drawn to Michael’s phone, and unfortunately, she has enough time to see what has just appeared on the screen.

Annie stiffens right away. She glances towards the bathroom to make sure Michael doesn’t come out of it, and with just a split second of hesitation, she taps her finger on the screen to turn it on again and make sure what she just read isn’t a figment of her imagination.

\- **Ian F.** (10.23 A.M)

_are u at coma gurl’s place? Did you nail her yet?_

\- **Travis H.** (10.25 A.M)

_meh poor Micky is stuck deep in the friendzone (more like the coma zone lol)_

\- **Ian F**. (10.26 A.M)

_that guy is a fighter lol even made the fake husband run away_

\- **Travis H.** (10.27 A.M)

_lmao right and he hasn’t even boned her yet, loser_

Annie’s eyes start blurring when she understands she is most definitely the said “coma gurl”. The anger and disappointment suddenly blind her, and she can’t think straight anymore. When Michael comes out of the bathroom, with his typical wide smile, Annie waits for him, arms crossed, her chest flushed red with anger.

“Well, I better get going.” Michael exclaims, not noticing Annie’s incoming fury. “It was great seeing you, I hope you have a good d – “

“You fucking hypocrite.” Annie blurts out, her teeth clenched.

“Wh – I’m sorry, what?” Michael says, confused.

“You can tell your friends that you are definitely stuck in the friendzone, or at least, you were.” Annie bluntly says, throwing Michael’s phone at him. “I don’t ever want to see you again. I will ask to be reassigned with a new partner first thing Monday.”

“Edison, what the hell are you talking ab –“

Michael shuts himself up when he unlocks his phone and sees his latest messages. Annie is boiling with rage as she watches him making a pity face to her.

“Edison, my friends are idiots, but don’t get the wrong idea.” Michael stammers. “Yeah, I might have told them about you, so now they like to tease me about it but I swear, I never said I would –“

“I don’t care about your shitty attempt of an excuse, Peterson.” Annie interrupts him, furious. “First of all, you have absolutely no right to discuss my private life with random people I don’t even know. Second of all, tell me about the “making the fake husband run away” part. I must say I’m a bit confused here.”

Michael lowers his eyes to the ground, which is probably a pathetic attempt of soothing Annie, but it does just the opposite.

“Answer my question.” Annie harshly says.

“Fine!” Michael suddenly blurts out. “When I met you with stupid forehead guy at the park last month, I really thought something was off. There was no way in hell you were married and you never even mentioned it all the time we have been working together. So I looked him up online and… I told him if he didn’t tell you the truth, I would. But Edison, believe me, I was only trying to protect you, I was worried about y –“

“Get out.” Annie spits.

“I promise you, I was only worried these people would take advantage of you –“

“GET OUT!”

Annie loses her composure and runs to Michael to hit him everywhere she can reach. She angrily punches him in his arms, in his chest, until she manages to push him towards the door. Michael tries to grab her hands to stop her from hitting him but she is too fast for him.

“Edison, stop it!” Michael yells before grabbing her wrists. “You’re overreacting, I understand you’re upset but –“

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Annie lashes out.

She steps back at once, and this time, she hits him in the face. A good old-fashioned slap on the cheek. It is so violent Michael’s head turns to his right. The cheek Annie has just slapped turns neon red.

“I told you I lived in a terrible neighbourhood once.” Annie says while Michael touches his cheek. “You don’t want to mess with me.”

“You know what? You’re just a bitch, if you’re fine with a random creep playing house with you, knock yourself out.” Michael says out of spite.

“Wow, Peterson. Dropping the nice-guy act once you realize you can’t get in those pants. Classy.” Annie retorts, giving him a stink eye.

“Feel free to ask for a new partner on Monday.”

“Oh, I definitely will. Please, show yourself out.”

Annie can see so much resentment and anger in Michael’s eyes that for a minute, she feels at risk. Apparently, she doesn’t know who he truly is anymore, and she can’t trust he won’t react badly.

Michael eventually turns around and starts walking away. Annie tries slowing her breathing while she watches him walk towards the elevator. Before hitting the button to call it, Michael walks back to her apartment and points his finger at her, accusingly.

“You know, Edison, I’ve always been nice to you.” Michael angrily says. “When you first walked into that office two years ago with your flowers all over you dresses and your pink notebooks and people made fun of you, I defended you. I always have. I helped you fitting in with the rest of our co-workers.”

“Okay, so just because you were a decent person, I should spread my legs for you?” Annie scoffs, dumbfounded.

“That’s absolutely not what I said.” Michael said annoyingly.

“But it sure sounded like it.”

Annie softly gasps out of surprise. Michael turns around to face Jeff, standing in the hallway with a tiny suitcase behind him, looking strongly displeased.

“Oh come on!” Michael exclaims. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Michael, just get the hell out.” Annie urges him.

“Yeah, you’re embarrassing yourself, dude.” Jeff adds, giving him a stink eye.

“I’m the one embarrassing myself?” Michael blurts out. “Look at you, man. Coming back here, crawling back to her, this is honestly the most pathetic thing I’ve ever witnessed in my l –“

“I invited him.” Annie interrupts Michael.

“Wow.” Michael whispers. “You two are definitely made for each other. Have a great life being fake-married, guys. Can’t wait until you have a fake kid and a fake dog. What’s next now, a fake suburban house?”

“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.” Jeff bluntly says.

Jeff lets the bag hanging on his shoulder drop to the ground and rolls up his sleeves before moving towards Michael.

“Jeff, don’t, he’s not worth it.” Annie tells Jeff. “Besides, I kind of already slapped him.”

“Apparently, he wants some more.” Jeff grumbles.

“Don’t bother.” Michael says. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Michael starts walking away when he suddenly falls to the floor. Annie gasps while Jeff chuckles. Michael gets back up as fast as he can and runs to the elevator. Once he’s finally out of their sight, Jeff chortles even more, to which Annie softly kicks him in the arm.

“It’s not funny, Jeff!” She points out, even though she tries to refrain a smile.

“I beg to differ, watching this douchebag trip on my bag was funny as hell.” Jeff laughs.

“Maybe we should stop talking about that idiot now, don’t you think?” Annie then says in a shy voice.

Jeff composes himself and realizes that this is it. The moment he has been waiting for. He is finally reunited with Annie, and yet, their reunion moment was ruined by this Michael douchebag. He ruined things again.

“Why don’t we start over?” Jeff suggests. “I’m going to walk back to the elevator, you’re going to go back inside, close the door, and I’m going to pretend like I just arrived before knocking on your door. What do you think?”

“Hum.” Annie says, pretending to be thinking. “Sure, let’s do this.”

They smile at each other, and without further ado, Annie walks back into her apartment and closes the door behind her while Jeff grabs his bag and his suitcase, pretending like he just arrived. He knocks on Annie’s door, and she opens it precisely six seconds later. Jeff takes a moment to quietly look at her, and it’s even better than every scenario he played out in his head for the past month.

“Hi.” He simply says.

“Hi.” Annie says back, her cheeks blushed.

“May I come in?” Jeff asks, feeling a little bit nervous.

Annie smiles, steps aside and he doesn’t wait any longer to enter.

Jeff has the weirdest _déjà-vu_ feeling while he looks all around him. It almost feels like he just came home.

“Give me this, I’ll get them to the bedroom.” Annie tells him as she takes his bag and his suitcase.

Jeff waits for her to come back and then, they stare at each other silently, not knowing what to say first. Jeff tugs his hands inside his pockets while Annie pushes her hair back on her head.

“Hum… How was your flight?” Annie asks in an unnaturally high tone.

“Fine, it was… Fine.” Jeff stammers. “It felt quicker than this cab drive from the airport, surprisingly.”

“Traffic.” Annie shrugs, laughing nervously.

“Yeah. Traffic.” Jeff dumbly repeats.

Annie clears her throat and nervously touches her necklace.

“Hum, do you want something to drink?” She asks him.

“Yeah, sure, hum, a glass of water, please.”

Annie gets to the kitchen and pours Jeff a glass of water. Meanwhile, Jeff quietly breathes out, trying to relax. He pretended to be her husband for a week, and now, he is acting overly nervous. So much for playing it cool and casual.

When Annie walks back to him, she hands him the glass of water. When he grabs it, their fingers briefly touch, making Jeff shiver and Annie blush.

“Why don’t we sit down on the couch?” Annie suggests, instantly heading towards the couch.

Jeff follows her without saying anything, they sit down next to each other and avoid eye-contact for a long thirty seconds.

“So…” Jeff begins, searching for her eyes.

“So…” Annie repeats, eyes lowered to the floor.

“You would think we would be better at this, considering we were married for a week.” Jeff jokes, trying to break the ice.

Annie softly laughs and Jeff’s heart warms up a little. He can tell she doesn’t resent him, allowing him to hope for his best scenario to become true.

“I did a lot of thinking.” Annie eventually says in a serious tone.

“Okay.” Jeff nods, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Actually, it ended up being me overthinking.” Annie continues. “And then, me overthinking my overthinking. It was really exhausting, sometimes. But I wanted to make sure I would have figured everything out by the time you would come.”

“Huh-huh.”

“I even wrote a pros and cons list on my notebook to help me see things clearer. Anyway. And… I thought about it and it would probably help us if we put the cards on the table, once and for all. Like, I tell you everything that I blame you for, you tell me everything that you blame me for. And then, we can finally move on, forgive each other and… See where this is going.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Let’s put the cards on the table.”

“Okay. Hum. The things I blame you for. I guess the most obvious one is you playing along with my marriage fantasy and not telling me until I realized it on my own after we slept together.”

Jeff notices Annie’s cheeks flushing again at the mention of their night of intimacy and he can’t help but find it frustratingly attractive. He composes himself and focuses back on what she is saying.

“But, to be honest, I mostly blame you for things that go back to Greendale.” Annie continues. “I blame you for never acknowledging your feelings for me. For telling me I read into things when I obviously wasn’t. And, in a way, I also blame you for letting me go to D.C. without trying to get back to me afterwards.”

Annie finally locks eyes with Jeff after saying that and the overwhelming sound of his heart beating increases even more in his ears.

“Your turn.” Annie bluntly says.

“Oh, now? Okay.” Jeff says, clearing his throat. “I don’t really think I hold grudges against you, actually.”

“Sure you do. Just think about it.”

“Fine. Hum… I guess… I guess I could blame you for… Pursuing me back at Greendale. Because you were so young back then, and I felt so ashamed of this unexpected attraction I felt for you. At the time, I wished you never kissed me during the debate. Or after the Transfer Dance. Before that, it was easier to pretend like it was just a slightly inappropriate physical attraction that would eventually go away. But with time, it became obvious that there was so much more to that than a corny attraction. And… I blame you for making the other women look dull and uninteresting compared to you.”

A beat. Jeff has had enough time to put his feelings into words, but as it turns out, it is much easier to talk in front of a mirror than to the woman you so desperately love.

“And… What I’m going to say isn’t easy to say without sounding like a jerk, but… I blame you, well, I blame your brain, so to speak, for waking you up after that coma, convinced we were married. Because if it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been so damn difficult and… I probably wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.”

Annie gasps, her lips shaking, her eyes blurry. Jeff is shaking, too. He said the love thing out loud to her and he is more than nervous about the way she is going to react.

“Well, that’s it for me.” Jeff sighs, his hands trembling. “You?”

“I… think that’s it for me too.” Annie whispers.

“So… Now, what?” Jeff asks, expectantly waiting for her answer.

“Well… I guess we did enough thinking and figured everything out, didn’t we?”

“I guess so.”

Jeff dives into Annie’s beautiful eyes and suddenly, it’s like the world stopped spinning and nothing else matters more than the two of them, here together on this couch.

“By the way, hum…” Jeff asks. “Why did you take my things to your bedroom? I assumed I would be sleeping on the couch this weekend.”

Annie doesn’t answer but Jeff notices her mischievous smile. She looks uncertain for a few seconds, but eventually, she leans closer to him and gently presses her lips on his. She parts from him only a few seconds later and giggles lightly.

“Unless you really want to sleep on the couch.” Annie teases with a smile.

Jeff chuckles and doesn’t wait another second before pulling Annie closer to him and kissing her passionately, which is undoubtedly better than every scenario he had ever imagined in his head.


	14. Epilogue.

**_ Chapter 14 : Epilogue. _ **

_ One year later. _

“I don’t know, Abed, are you sure this tie doesn’t make me look stuck-up?”

“Of course not, you look like Mike Ross from _Suits_. Very distinguished.”

“So I do look stuck up.”

“No, you look distinguished. That’s not the same thing.”

“I guess you’re right. Distinguished.”

“Distinguished.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Obviously.”

A beat.

“Troy and Abed at a weeedding!”

After singing their catchphrase simultaneously, Troy and Abed both take a hand to their chest and pats it twice while clapping the other hand twice as well together. Troy takes a final look in the mirror and smiles to his reflection.

“I guess we’re good to go, Sir.” He says in a pretend solemn tone to Abed.

They both walk out of the room and head towards the garden, where the other guests are already waiting, Troy spots Shirley’s boys sitting in one of the first rows. He waves at Abed to follow his lead and the both of them proceed to join Shirley.

“There you are, you two.” Shirley exclaims when she sees Troy and Abed sitting down next to her. “What in God’s name has taken you so long?”

“Tie issue.” Abed plainly replies.

“Where are the others?” Troy asks Shirley, looking all around him.

“They should get here any minute now.”

“Hello everyone!”

Troy, Abed and Shirley smile at Frankie while she sits down next to Abed.

“I’m Frankie, we’ve met at dinner’s rehearsal last week.” Frankie says before shaking Troy’s hand and Shirley’s hand.

“Right, nice to see you again.” Shirley exclaims with a wide smile.

“I suppose I shouldn’t say this but I just saw the bride before coming here and, must I say, she looks ravishingly stunning.” Frankie says.

“Of course she does, we just spent an alarming amount of time doing her hair.” Shirley scoffs, to which Frankie smiles.

“We’re still missing some people now, aren’t we?” Frankie asks, looking at the other end of the row.

“Hi, guys.”

“Oh hi Jeff!!”

Jeff waves at his friends, unbuttons his jacket and slides in to sit down next to Shirley.

“Shouldn’t you be with the other maids of honour, Shirl’s?” Jeff asks Shirley once he sits down next to her.

“I’m staying with my boys until the wedding starts.” Shirley softly answers.

“Go, I’ll stay with them.”

“Thank you, Jeffrey. You’re a treasure.”

Shirley gives a kiss on Jeff’s cheek and stands up before walking to the altar and standing next to the other maids of honour. Jeff smiles and winks at one of them, a gorgeous little brunette, who winks back at him.

“Where is your little one, Jeff?” Frankie asks him.

“We left her at Maria’s for the weekend.” Jeff casually answers. “She is still too young, we can’t travel with her yet.”

“Oh no, you must miss her so much.” Frankie pouts.

“I do, but that’s a secret between you and me.” Jeff whispers with a smile. “It’s okay though, Maria is texting us every two hours a picture of our little baby.”

“Please, do show me!”

Frankie stands up and sits next to Jeff while he unlocks his phone to show her the pictures Maria sent him.

“Oh my God, isn’t she the cutest little puppy fur I’ve ever seen!” Frankie babbles, in awe.

“She is.” Jeff sighs, smiling as he looks at his puppy’s pictures again. “Apparently it’s not nice to say it but she is definitely the cutest one of the litter.”

“Jeff Winger, if I had imagined when we met that you would become a puppy lover one day, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Jeff and Frankie laugh together, before the latter waves to the maid of honour Jeff winked at a few minutes ago.

“You see that incredibly beautiful woman over there?” Jeff says to Frankie while pointing at the brunette.

“Yes Jeff, what about her?” Frankie sarcastically says, guessing perfectly what he is going to say.

“Well, believe it or not, but she’s my fiancée.”

“Wh – Jeff, I had no idea!!” Frankie exclaims. “That is such incredible news, why haven’t you said anything?”

“Today isn’t our special day, we thought it would be best to wait before breaking the news to you guys. But honestly, I am the happiest man alive right now and I want to shout it from every rooftop. But I’m not going to do that because Annie wouldn’t approve, so I’m only telling you for now. Can you keep a secret?”

“You can trust me, Jeffrey Winger. I won’t tell a soul. And congratulations, of course, I am genuinely happy for you two.”

Jeff smiles and looks yet another time at Annie, his gorgeous fiancée, standing behind Shirley in the maids of honour’s side. She catches his eyes too and she smiles at him. Jeff tries to catch a glimpse of Annie's engagement ring from afar. A year ago, he had a fake wedding ring on his left hand. Yesterday, he proposed to Annie for real and she was now wearing an actual engagement ring. And what he told Frankie was true, he couldn’t be happier.

A few minutes later, music starts playing in the air and everyone stands up at once to catch the bride’s arrival. Well, both brides’ arrival, actually.

Jeff feels genuinely delighted and proud when he sees Britta and Lorelai, walking hand in hand towards the altar. They are both dressed in the fanciest white jumpsuits Jeff has ever seen. They both look spectacularly beautiful together, which makes the scenery even more powerful at the moment.

Jeff remembers the time he and Britta asserted they would never get married because they hated this institution. And yet, here they were, Britta on her very way to get married, and Jeff just newly engaged. Who would have thought they would come such a long way since Greendale?

While Britta and Lorelai share their vows, Jeff can’t stop admiring Annie. When he realizes that a year from now, they will be in Britta and Lorelai’s shoes, he can’t help but feel ecstatic.

At some point, he turns his head to catch a glimpse of the other guests, and he can tell Troy is quietly crying happy tears. Jeff smiles at the sight of his friend moved by the wedding of his other friend. Such a long way since Greendale…

At the end of the ceremony, Jeff immediately walks up to Britta and gives her a hug.

“You two are the loveliest brides I’ve ever seen in my life.” He says to Britta and Lorelai. “And coming from me, it means a lot.”

“Thank you, Jeff.” Britta sighs happily. “I can’t shake the nervousness out of my system.”

“You’ve done the hardest part. Now all you have to do is have fun and drink a lot of champagne.”

“Oh yeah, I hope you prepared some dance moves, Winger.”

Britta pretends to dance in a ridiculous way, which makes Jeff chuckle. Before he can realize what is happening, someone is running towards him and jumps on him before kissing him passionately.

“Hey, thanks for stealing the spotlight with your ridiculous cuteness, you two!” Britta laughs while Jeff and Annie make out.

“Sorry, the wedding vibes have gotten to me.” Annie giggles as Jeff puts her down.

“You should think about proposing to your girlfriend sometime Jeff, you owe her that much.” Britta teases.

Jeff and Annie don’t say anything, however, they share an amused look at Britta’s joke. When she will hear the news, she will be genuinely surprised.

After the ceremony comes the celebration. The former Greendale study group dances together, happy to celebrate Britta’s wedding. At some point, Jeff grabs Annie’s waist and pretends to dance a tango with her, which makes her laugh heartily. He loves it so much when he makes her laugh.

Then, they fall into each other arms and peacefully dance to a slow dance. Annie buries her head into Jeff’s neck while he rests his head on hers.

“I love you so much.” Annie sighs next to his ear.

Jeff smiles against her hair and closes his eyes to cherish the moment. Now, he knows there is nothing more satisfying in the world than being into the arms of the woman he loves and will soon promise to love for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this it it... Wow. At first, this story was just an idea I got from a dream. I would never have thought that it would get this much attention.
> 
> First of all, a huge huge thank you to you readers, you who have followed the story, commented, left kudos, or just overall enjoyed it. Each and every comment was really heartwarming and encouraged me to continue this story. It really means a lot, especially since I was insecure about my English writing, but you guys have been really supportive and I can't thank you enough for that.
> 
> Also, a particular thank you to the Community Discord #fan-fic channel, to which I was added thanks to Skitzer1985 (you writer and/or reader should definitely join us here! We talk, brainstorm, help each other out and laugh, really nice atmosphere). Thanks to Skitzer1985, HareStomp (Kian), Childish_Glover, AlmightyMirage (Mirage), Readymcreaderson (Sally) and 1sttimefeeling (jeffwing) for supporting me all the way through. You should really check the works they have posted here as well, they are amazing writers!!
> 
> Now I will focus on my new Jeff and Annie story, based on the books To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Feel free to check it for some more fluffy Jeff and Annie moments :)


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